Ranger's Rangers
by ElizabethAnne1
Summary: Stephanie Plum has landed her dream job as a physical therapist for the NY Rangers. Will sparks fly when her first patient is none other than team captain Carlos Manoso? First fic, be sweet! Babe all the way, but Joe does okay. M for language so far. AU
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, I can do this! I've worked with much tougher cookies than these guys. Come on baby, you got this._

I did a few little jumps in the air and decided now would probably be a good time to stop talking to myself. I'd finally arrived at the New York Rangers training facility in Tarrytown NY and I was seriously biting my nails down to the quick thinking about this job I'd finally nailed down.

While performing at a national ballet competition at the age of 18, a bad landing snapped my right Achilles' tendon with a sound like a rifle shot. Everybody there knew that sound, it was the sound that preceded many surgeries and months and months of PT. After it was all over I had regained not only my mobility and ability to dance, but had also found what I wanted to do most in life, I wanted to help people recover from what seems to be a catastrophic injury. Thankfully I was already a bio major at Rutgers and was able to switch my major, and eventually attain a doctorate in physical therapy. I still danced, but it was no longer my primary focus. I had two years of post-graduate work at the American Ballet Theater and was ready to look for a permanent position. It was pretty slim pickings with dance companies, so on the advice of my program advisor and friend Connie, I looked into professional sports teams, and scored an interview with the head of personnel for the New York Rangers! The New York Rangers! I could hardly believe my luck. Me, my dad and my best friend Joe have spent the last umpteen years of my life sitting on the couch catching every game we could, and every once in a while hopping on the train into the city and heading up to the Garden and catching a real live game. I know, I know, Gretzky and Messier are probably odd heroes for a tutu wearing little girl, but there it was. My hockey gods were right up there with Baryshnikov and Pavlova in my estimation. Amazing athletes all.

Anyway, I had finally made it through the rigorous application process and many interviews. Make no mistake, they were pretty leery of hiring a woman to fill a position that had always been held by a man, but my experience at ABT and my stellar grades all through school must have made me a more desirable candidate than the older men that were up for the job. Maybe the new team owner had something to do with it. She had publicly stated that she was unhappy with the amount of women who work for the team. Whatever the reason, I didn't really care; I just knew that this place was going to be a great move for me.

I adjusted my huge bag on my shoulder, fished out my i.d. lanyard from under my hoodie, squared my shoulders and marched to the door and swiped my way into the training center. I would be one of three therapists who would work with the team doctor Dr. Pierre Boulanger a massive, chocolate skinned French Canadian. We'd bonded during the hiring process when he discovered that we could converse in French beyond the expected balletic lexicon. It was a little intimidating for my 5'4" self to stand next to this man-mountain, but he exuded this great no bullshit demeanor that commanded instant respect and was incredibly endearing. I called him Doc, but I think Tank would have been a more apt moniker.

I got such a rush entering my new little office, I had my own office! A whole office that had my name on the door, and my desk, and my chair, well, you get the picture. I had one little room in this huge building. I finally felt like an honest to god grown up now. Heaving the bag onto my desk, I pulled out some heavy duty resistance bands and some foam rollers. Doc had said it would be okay if I instituted some techniques I had been using for injury prevention at ABT here and see how it worked out. Carrying the props into the treatment rooms, I saw that Bobby and Lester, my fellow therapists, were already at work wiping down the tables and organizing the equipment.

"Good morning guys!" I had to yell over the music they had going. Guess they needed a little melodic push in the morning.

"Hey Steph!" they replied.

I turned and made my way back to the office to finish unpacking my bag. I took my dance bag out and left it on the chair and fished out a few pictures to decorate my desk. Bending to push the duffle under my desk for now, I snapped straight up hearing a shrill wolf whistle. Turning around Lester and Bobby stood in the doorway grinning ear to ear. Bobby at least had the grace to look a little ashamed to be caught peeping. Lester, however, looked pretty damn proud of himself.

"Can it, Lester Molester, you're cute an' all, but at least let me get through my first day before the sexual harassment starts!" Bobby cracked up at that, and I had to join in. Bobby had the kind of laugh that you just had to join in with. Even Lester, though initially horrified by my harassment threat, realized I was joking and cracked up too. Little did he know that Molester was going to be my new nickname for him.

Cute didn't adequately describe either one of them though, Lester Santos, had lovely green eyes, ridiculously long dark lashes and a body a girl could seriously drool over. Bobby Brown had skin a shade darker and looked smoother than the proverbial baby's butt, and a body that looked every bit as delicious as Lester's. I'd definitely have to find time for some extra work-outs with this group. Maybe a little extra mascara? If we ever took a medical team picture I'd probably fade into the background.

"Okay you two, give me some hints to get me through my first day. What should I expect?"

"Did you get the app I told you about?" asked Lester.

"Yep" I held out my iPad for him.

"Pull it up and I'll walk you through it" he said.

I tapped the icon, "Now, see the roster appears? Tap on any of the players and it'll give you their medical history and who is actively being treated right now."

I'd pulled up the record for Carlos Manoso #25, not only was Carlos widely considered one of the best captains that had ever skated for the Rangers he was also considered one of the sexiest men alive. Well, according to People magazine, and every living breathing woman in the country (quite a few men too!). What made him stand out were his amazing defensive skills, he was also a great goal scorer and passer as well. He had more assists than goals, and was known to be calm no matter what came his way. He was a natural leader and it was clear the team revered him. What he was personally like remained to be seen, I had my fingers crossed that he wasn't a giant asshole. With a face and natural talent like that it would be so easy to fall into the role of a tyrant/brat.

His medical record definitely surprised me. He was currently playing with a first degree sprained wrist, and a second degree ankle sprain. Both injuries were incurred at the same time. He was only 4 weeks post injury and had already been back on the ice for 2. They had started treatment right way on both and he was due to come in later in the day for a re-evaluation (by me!) and some therapy. I felt my face get a little warm at the idea that I'd have my hands on him later in the day. Looking up I realized my new friends had been watching me while I absorbed the info I had gotten. My cheeks got a little hotter knowing they'd witness my unprofessional reaction. I mentally face palmed. Unh!

"Look guys, I've been a fan since I was 2 and my dad gave up hope on having a boy and decided that I would be his little sports partner. Being around these guys is going to take some getting used to."

They both nodded and unh- huh'd but I don't know if they totally bought it.

"All right Tiny Dancer, let's get moving. They'll be heading for a quick break in 5 minutes and we can get the introductions over with."

This was definitely a nicknaming crew. He clapped Les on the shoulder and said, "C'mon Molester let's show our new girl around."

Following behind them, I had a second to appreciate just how gorgeous they were.

_Hey! Be a professional for Christ's sake. It's your first friggin day!_

I checked to make sure I wasn't drooling and snapped my eyes up at the sharp blast of a whistle. I watched from behind the bench as the guys finished up their speed drills and meandered over to the bench. They were just so different to the sleek and sinuous dancers I was used to. Big, bulky men, yet incredibly agile and fast! They towered over me because of the added height of their skates. Good thing I wasn't some shy wallflower. I'd be in real trouble with this group! I did, however wish I had dressed up a little more than my Rangers tee-shirt and athletic pants uniform. At least I had a little mascara on and my crazy curly hair was somewhat restrained in a pony-tail. But, this is all they were ever going to see me in so…I did a mental shrug. I wasn't here looking for a boyfriend.

"Coach", Lester said, "this is Stephanie Plum, our newest physical therapist."

I extended my hand and was surprised by the gentle handshake I received from this man, I was expecting a bone crusher grip. He was known for being a real hard-ass to his players, really tough but fair. He expected nothing but absolute excellence in his players. You fucked up, you were scratched from that night's game. You fucked up badly enough, he'd send you to the minors for a week to make up for it.

"John Esposito, nice to meet you Stephanie. If any of my guys give you a hard time, you tell me, I'll find a suitable punishment. These guys can be real babies when it comes to PT."

He turned to address the team still on the ice.

"Listen up! This is Stephanie Plum, I expect you to treat her with the same respect that you treat Les, Bobby and Tank with. She has a doctorate in PT and has been hand-picked out of a pool of very qualified candidates. The medical team believes she'll be a good fit for us and I want you guys to listen to her when she tells you to do something. I expect full cooperation from all of you."

I thought his paternalism was a little annoying, but I understood his warnings. I was new to the hockey world, but I didn't really think that it'd be all that different than breaking into any other close knit group. I'd just have to earn their trust the hard way, by fixing what ails them, and showing them I wasn't someone that would let them push me around. I was scanning their faces as the coach was speaking and was met with mostly nods and little waves. I got a little jolt every time I recognized someone, this was way up there on the _This Is The Best Day Of My Life List_. Joe was gonna be so pissed he was missing this! When I got to the far end of the group I realized I was looking directly at the captain himself! He was staring right at me so intensely I felt a little frission deep down in my belly, the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up and my nipples hardened to roughly about the same size and density of steel ball bearings.

_Holy cow! That is one intense man! What the hell am I gonna do when I have to touch him! _

_It's just the cold from the ice making you react this way. How can you have a physical response to someone who's not even touching you?_

I dragged my eyes away from him and spoke to the team,

"I look forward to working with you all." I said lamely.

_What the fuck? That's what I say? Christ they're really gonna love me! I'm going to have to work some serious magic right away!_

My eyes slid to Manoso without my permission and he had this almost smile tipping up the corners of his mouth.

_Great, glad I could amuse you! My day isn't complete unless someone can enjoy my discomfort!_

I turned and hurried back to my office and fired up the coffee maker my predecessor had been kind enough to leave behind. I pulled up the music app and ran through a quick warm up while there was no one around. There was just enough room in here to practice some little jumps, and if I was careful some grande battements. I needed to relieve some nervous energy right about now. I was one big ball of tension. I had left my door open so I could hear if anyone came into the attached treatment room. I was off to the side of the door, using the elbow high filing cabinets as a makeshift barre. This is how I achieve my zone. Stretching slowly, isolating every single muscle after any workout allows my mind to go blank. Bending nose to knee then straight up and then cambre all the way back from the waist, only problem was the sight I was greeted with. An upside down Carlos Manoso in my doorway.

_Holy fucksticks! How many times today am I going to embarrass myself in front of this guy today?_

I snapped straight up and popped my leg down off the filing cabinet, and turned to face him. He'd changed out of his padding and shorts into a sleeveless shirt and gym shorts and sneakers.

_Isn't there anything this guy doesn't look good in?_

Realizing I was staring again I shook myself and approached him with hand outstretched.

"Hi, Stephanie Plum, Mr. Manoso, pleasure to meet you." He looked down at my hand like he didn't know quite what to do with it, but gently grabbed my fingers with his and shook. I felt the tingle all the way up to my shoulder. I snapped my eyes to his and thought he may have felt something there too.

"Yeah, you can call me Carlos if you like. I know that I was supposed to come by later, but I have a few meetings this afternoon so I thought maybe we could take care of this now?" His voice was like liquid velvet, and beautifully deep. I really wasn't sure how much time I could spend around this gorgeous man without seriously making a fucking fool of myself.

"Uh, umm of course, sure, umm… just head on over to the first table while I pull up your newest MRI's and I'll see what we're dealing with here." He turned and I got the back view. Jesus Christ! This man was too good looking to be real. I quickly grabbed my iPad and pulled up the images I wanted to see. It seemed that any tearing that was present when the injury had occurred had healed and there was only a little inflammation left.

"Uh…Carlos, these look really good as I'm sure Dr. Boulanger told you. I'm just going to test your range of motion."

"Sure, go ahead." He climbed up and leaned back supporting himself with his elbows. He was one solid block of muscle, but there was such an incredible amount of intelligence in his expression. He was still staring at me, and holy hell was it making me uncomfortable.

I picked up his foot and pulled off his shoe and sock.

_Really? He even has nice feet? He's been sweating his ass off in skates and pads for hours, and they still smell good. Wait a minute…he smells good all over. _

_He must've showered! _

_Oh! What a mental image! Hot, soapy, water slowly running down what looks like perfectly cut abs towards…_

_For the love of god! Fucking focus! PROFESSIONAL!_

I could feel the flush start all the way down at my hairline, only made worse when I looked up at him and realized I could see straight up his gym shorts. _Holy crap! _

_FOCUS!_

Blinking myself out of my fog and cleared my mind and throat.

"Okay, can you dorsiflect against my hand?" he complied "good, now circle to the side, good, now the other?" I watched his face closely for signs that this was painful and was getting nothing out of him.

"Does it hurt? At all?" he shook his head no. "You had it taped up for skating today right? How'd it feel?"

"Not bad, I've had worse and managed okay." He said.

"How about the wrist? You had that taped up right?" he nodded. He thought a moment then said.

"It feels perfectly fine, I've had no trouble with it at all." He flexed his hand up, down and side to side and I got a little distracted by the ripple of his arm muscles all the way up his arms, but what the hell any good PT should be checking out all his musculature, right?

I ran to the cabinet where I'd stashed my resistance bands, and selected the one with the lightest resistance to start with, and ran through the same exercises, but with resistance and lots of reps. He was really strong which was to be expected.

I felt this low level hum coursing through me that threw me off balance, it intensified in direct relation to my proximity to him. I'd only had that one cup of coffee earlier so it couldn't be that. Given, that I'd only just realized we weren't alone in the room and were being observed by Bobby and Molester, I had to assume it was coming from him. I couldn't really understand it. I'd never felt like this before with anyone. I wasn't exactly a saint, but I didn't get around a whole lot either. I'd never felt this kind of immediate attraction to anyone, ever. I'd been peeking up at him to see if his face was showing any pain while he ran through the mini work-out, he seemed truly fine, though every time I looked up he seemed to be staring right at me. I switched him out to a higher band and closely watched him through the same rotation. Bobby and Molester lost interest when their own patients wandered in.

"Alright, uh…Carlos, if you could hop up and head over and face the wall from about three feet away. We need to work on the little bit of calf stiffness I was feeling earlier. Bend you're left leg and straighten your right leg. Good, now hold for 30 seconds." I bent down and felt his gastrocnemius tense, I massaged it as he held the stretch. Whoa! Look at the goose bumps that just popped up on his leg! Then I made a big mistake. I looked straight ahead from my crouched position. I was pretty much eye-to-cock level.

_Is he still wearing his cup?_

I'm used to male dancers wearing dance belts, which confer a bit of an exaggeration in size in the old man bits department , but this was ridiculous! No one is that big unless Mr. happy is happy right? Wait did it just move? Looking up at his face I realized he was gazing down at me with an eyebrow raised. Mortification replaced my curiosity at being caught staring at the man's dick. Holy shit! I'd started calling Lester, Molester after one comment, I'm pretty sure I just leaped that same creeper boundary with a great big grand jete! But, wait a second… he doesn't look pissed at me. He looks a little turned on. I snatched my hand away from his calf like it was on fire, and abruptly stood up. A little too quickly, all the blood rushed to my head and I swayed a bit. The swimmy feeling got a little worse when I realized that he'd put his arm around my waist to steady me. Backing away, I tried to play my stupidity off as being star struck instead of being dickmatized.

"Well Mr. Manoso, if you repeat 3 sets of those exercises, twice a day, and keep up with the ibuprofen as needed you should be back in full fighting shape by next week. I've found that if you do those exercise once a day after it's fully healed it'll help stabilize that ankle and then it should limit that injury from happening again. Not that you're not recovering well today it's jus…you know my dad is a really huge fan of yours and Joe too! I really don't think that we've ever missed a game"

_Shut the fuck up Stephanie! _

"yeah… so keep the band I have plenty more, and come back in this time next Monday and we'll re-assess. Um…yeah."

_Shut. The. Fuck. Up!_

Mumbling "nice to meet you" I turned away, but couldn't resist one last peek over my shoulder. Christ he was so fucking gorgeous and if I'm not mistaken he was checking out my ass! Okay that might have put a little bounce in my step.

I bolted into my office and skirted the desk to grab another cup of coffee, I felt that hum intensify again. Turning with coffee in hand, I nearly collided with him.

"Was there something else?" I had to look up to see his face. He was really in my personal space, something I usually hate. With him though, I didn't seem to mind. He made me uncomfortable, but not in a bad way. I just seemed to be hyper-aware of his presence.

"Yeah, do you have another cup?" It took me a minute to figure out what he was saying.

"Oh! Yes here hold on a sec, and let me wash it out for you! Please have a seat" I grabbed my bag from the floor and rooted around till I found the my other mug. Running to the hand washing sink I rinsed my hands and the cup for him and dashed back in to my office. Thank god Bobby and Lester were too busy to witness this. I didn't know them really well yet, but I was certain they wouldn't let my goofy behavior go without a fair amount of ribbing. I quickly poured him some.

"Milk and sugar?" he shook his head no, never taking his eyes off me. If any other guy had been this quiet with me, and just kept staring at me the way he did, I would've been calling the cops or Joe. His scrutiny was uncomfortable and was making me squirm, but in sort of a good way. He was so fucking intense. He accepted his coffee from me and lightly grazed my fingers, I tried to suppress a shiver at the contact.

He finally broke his silence.

"How long did you dance?" he asked quietly he held up the mug I gave him and then I realized which one I had given him. It was a picture of me taken by a teacher at my ballet school, right before the competition that changed my life. I'd been rehearsing before going on stage and was in what I called my happy arabesque. I was on pointe and my legs where split vertically to nearly 180 degrees and I was reaching for the sky. Even though that day ended in misery, it brought me to my current path. Joe always loved that picture of me so he had it put on a mug as a present. It may have been vain, but I loved that picture of me as well.

"My whole life!" I replied. "I've done it for as long as I can remember. It's what I thought I would always do. Turns out, I'm not a great teacher though, and I found this when I was injured, and at the risk of sounding corny, I found my calling. Now I practice ballet for myself and do this for others." I'd managed to hold his gaze through all of that, but had to look away at the end. I was feeling the beginnings of a long heartfelt speech coming on.

"How long have you played hockey?" He smiled and blew out a breath. "Only since I was 10, I grew up in Newark and my mom was becoming concerned about who I was hanging out with. She heard about an urban hockey team in Manhattan, and dragged my ass there on the train three nights a week. Have you heard of Hockey in Harlem?" I nodded, "it was headed by Adam Graves, he saw me play once and talked my mom into bringing me back. We ended up moving to Cranford and I was on the high school team there and was scouted for college. After school I was drafted here and have been here ever since. I'd love to play out my entire career here, but we'll see."

Wow no stories about how fabulous of a player he was. Very _just the facts ma'am_. Maybe he wasn't cocky at all.

"What did you injure?" he asked.

_How was his face so perfect? He played hockey, he should have a scar or something, wait…there's a tiny scar on the bridge of his nose. Probably from a helmet…_

"Hmm?" uh-oh I was getting goofy again.

"You said you were injured, and that's how you found PT. What did you hurt?" he looked at me quizzically.

"My right Achilles', snapped like a twig, hurt like a mother…trucker. Took 4 surgeries to fix the damn thing, but it's pretty great now. Good as new." I couldn't resist and had to kick off my sneaker and tugged off my sock, I yanked up my pant leg and lifted my leg in his direction. The angle wasn't right so I rounded the desk and turned my back to him, lifting my lower leg and showing him the thin white bands of scar tissue cris-crossing my lower calf. He caught my foot in his hand and lifted it closer so he could see better. His finger tip traced each scar and I felt his touch in a much different place.

"Hey Ranger! We were just wondering if we could steal Tiny Dancer over here, we're heading out for an early lunch. We're booked solid from 11 till 5." He'd dropped my foot like a hot potato when Les had interrupted us.

"Ranger?" Seriously? Couldn't they have come up with a more inventive nickname? I guess if fitted him though.

"Yeah, it's what all these knuckleheads call me." He jumped up and put my mug on the table. "Thanks for the coffee babe, I gotta get going, I'll see you soon." He gave me one last intense look and took off. My eyes followed him out the door.

"Whoo! There was some serious tension in here just now! What's going on with you and the captain?" Lester said looking back and forth between my face and the captains retreating back. He was going to be a giant ball buster on this, I just knew it.

"Nothing! He just wanted a cup of coffee and we got to talking." I looked them straight in the eye. I really didn't want them to think I'd developed a massive crush on my very first patient here…even if it was true!

_Oh boy!_


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I decided to put this chapter in Ranger's POV. My apologies if it gets repetitive, I usually hate rehashing the same dialogue so I tried to keep it to a minimum. I felt like we should get a peek into Carlos' mind. He's a little different than the usual Ranger. **

**Oh yeah! These characters aren't mine. They belong to the amazing Janet Evanovich. Damn it! This plot is mine though. **

"Bye Daddy!" Julie called through the window.

"Bye Baby, I love you!" I yelled out the car window.

I watched my baby girl disappear inside the school doors. Her mom would be picking her up after school and taking her for the next two nights.

Rachel and I had gotten married senior year in college after we found out she was pregnant. Even then we were better friends than lovers. Now, we loved and respected each other, but there was hardly any passion, no desire. It wasn't fair to any of us to stay together. After the divorce I tried to stay in the same building, but there was nothing available. I lucked out and found a great apartment only 2 blocks away. I moved to the new place so Julie could keep her room just like it was and I set up a new room for her at my place. She would be staying more with her mom than me during the season as I often had to travel for games. My little girl was an amazing kid; she really went with the flow during the divorce. She didn't seem to have had any trouble adjusting to her new life.

Rachel had been seeing a pretty good guy for about 6 months now and it was starting to look serious. As long as he was good to them both it was fine with me. He stepped out of line with either of them, well…it wouldn't be pretty. I'd been on a few dates since in the year since we broke up. Nothing came of any of them. This was definitely my longest ever dry spell. I took out my resulting aggressions in the gym and on the ice.

I headed up the FDR Drive toward the practice center in Tarrytown; this was a really annoying commute at this time of the morning. On game days we practiced at the Garden, off days we had to travel 45 minutes away. We had morning skate in an hour, and then I had a few meetings to attend including a visit with the new physical therapist. Doc thought she would be a good fit for the medical team. She was fairly new to the job, but he was really impressed with her skills and experience. I just hoped that the guys didn't go goofy over her. Doc said she was a pretty little thing and that she was in great shape. We had a great team put together, but there was quite a few man whores. Mostly the fresh out of college guys overwhelmed by the amount and quality of the puck bunnies that hung around the Garden. There was no real non-fraternization policy in the company, but with so few women in positions outside of the front office, it really wasn't an issue. I just didn't want them messing with her too much.

I parked in my spot and grabbed my gym bag. I didn't miss carting around a giant equipment and stick bag. There were definitely benefits to playing in the NHL, including having an equipment manager whose job it was to keep our sticks, skates and pads at their best.

Practice went really well, everyone was on top of their shit. We'd been having a great season so far; our goalie Hal Henriksson had only lost 3 games and had 5 shutouts. Our backup, Cam Taylor had lost 3 games as well, but that was on me. McDougal and I should've defended our rookie goalie better.

If Hal plays in tomorrow night's game like he played today, we'll be looking at our 21st win of the season putting us at 21 and 6. For the very beginning of December, that's an amazing record and I couldn't be prouder of our team. That was our best record in I don't even know how long.

We were finishing up some speed drills when Espo whistled us over to the bench. I could see a small woman standing beside Bobby and Les. She was speaking to Espo, but I couldn't hear their conversation from here, I could however, hear the guys mumbling to each other. The general consensus was that the new hire was fairly hot.

"Listen up! This is Stephanie Plum, I expect you to treat her with the same respect that you treat Les, Bobby and Doc with. She has a Doctorate in PT and has been hand-picked out of a pool of very qualified candidates. The medical team believes she'll be a good fit for us and I want you guys to listen to her when she tells you to do something. I expect full cooperation from all of you."

While Espo was speaking she was scanning the crowd with a little smile on her face. She'd get to certain players and the smile would get a little wider. I would have guessed that she was a fan and had recognized them.

She had pretty, curly hair, a cute little nose, pink cheeks and a sexy pouty mouth. Her body looked tight and curvy, but man, was she short! She reached my end of the group and seemed to startle when we locked eyes. Her eyes were fucking gorgeous! Blue so bright I could see it from where I was standing on the ice. My heart rate picked up some the longer we held eye contact, something a little further south started to take notice as well. I was thankful when she looked away. Hard-ons while wearing a cup are never a good thing.

"I look forward to working with you all." She said, her cheeks staining a slightly darker pink. She cringed a bit, and rolled her eyes.

She had a jersey accent, a little husky. Sexy.

She turned toward the treatment room, and I heard an appreciative murmur from the guys. She had a spectacular ass, high and tight. She really was in good shape.

Practice ended right after that, and I hurried through my shower. I wanted to see if I could bump my appointment with Stephanie Plum up a little bit. Our trainer had a new weight program he wanted me to try and wanted to see me before my meetings this afternoon. I threw on some gym clothes and rushed around the rink and headed for the medical suite. I waved to Les and Bobby and stopped dead in the doorway of her office.

_Damn! _

This was not what I expected to see, her right leg was straight out and resting on top of the filing cabinets and she was bent forward at the waist resting her face on her knee. She slowly straightened and raised her right arm then slowly bent backwards from the waist.

_A dancer too huh? And really fucking bendy too…_

There goes that heart rate again. She finally opened her eyes and saw me in her doorway, she popped straight up and brought her leg down all in one movement. She turned and looked me up and down.

_Holy shit! She just checked me out!_

She shook her head and came at me with her hand outstretched. I looked at her hand for a second before I grasped her fingers, she was introducing herself, but all I was struck stupid for a second by the thrill that had buzzed up my arm. Thankfully, she agreed to see me early.

We ran through some exercises and all I could do was watch her work. She was really very good at her job. I was having quite a reaction to having her touch me though. I felt little zings wherever her gentle fingers touched my skin.

I couldn't take my eyes off of her; up close she was very pretty, with a long, graceful neck. You could tell she was a dancer. The way she moved was a little hypnotizing, there wasn't a clumsy bone in her body. I'd love to see what she'd be like on the ice. I wonder if she knew she was softly swaying to the Debussy that was still playing on her iPad.

She was working away, asking questions "Does this hurt? Does that?" She was watching my face closely, I guess looking for a response to pain, but honestly I was buzzing all over just from being close to her, so I didn't feel anything wrong at all.

She positioned me against the wall to stretch out my calf. She was right about the stiffness. Ever since I sprained that ankle, my calf had been tight and crampy.

Having her so close to me; feeling her massage my calf was definitely causing a reaction from my dick. She was only about a foot away from it, when I made the mistake of looking down at her. She was staring right at it and I felt myself harden even more, she looked up at me open- mouthed. Thank god she stood up right then or I probably would've done something really idiotic! She swayed a little and got a bit glassy eyed so I steadied her around the waist. Shit! I really liked the way she felt so close to me, there was a faint, sweet, clean scent coming off of her.

She backed away quickly, looking awkward. Giving me some last minute instructions she mentioned something about her dad and "Joe" being big fans.

_Who? _

_Of course she has a boyfriend. Look at her. _

Of course I have to fuck it all up by getting a hard on right in the face of a woman that's in a relationship with someone. Although, I'd said I didn't want any of the team chasing her, I guess that sentiment didn't quite get through to my own head...well, heads. She mumbled "nice to meet you" over her shoulder and took off for her office. I wasn't ready to leave her yet though, and followed her in.

"Was there something else?" She said.

Looking down at her coffee, not three inches from my stomach, I had an idea that would keep me near her for a few minutes more

.

"Yeah, do you have another cup?" I usually didn't drink coffee much, especially as I was headed for a workout, but I didn't know what other excuse I could give.

Flustered, she bent over...hmmmm...grabbed another mug and ran to clean it out. I looked down at her desk photos and saw one of Steph in a tutu, bouquet of flowers cradled in her arms, medal around her neck, grinning next to a tall Italian looking guy in a naval uniform. They looked to be in their late teens. I had to wonder if this was Joe. If so, they'd been together a long time. I should've probably backed down, but I couldn't seem to make myself care too much about this guy. I hadn't been this attracted to Rachel, even when we first met. Something about this woman was drawing me in and I think I was already in trouble.

She hustled back in and poured me a cup, we grazed fingers when she handed it over. Christ, I really needed to get a grip. I was feeling a whole lot like a kid around her, and I had been a really fucking horny teen.

The mug she'd given me was one of those personalized ones, showing a picture of her in some contorted position. The muscles in her legs were crazy! Who'd have thought that that's what was under those baggy track pants she had on. As hockey players we have to be agile and fairly flexible, but the position she was in in that picture looked amazing and downright painful, yet her face looked absolutely joyful. There really was no other way to describe it.

She told me about dancing; she was so animated and confident when she spoke of it. Just like she was when she was treating me before. Gone was that blushing, bashful girl. She asked me about playing hockey. It was nice to just sit and talk to her, I was still very physically aware of her even though she was on the other side of her desk. We talked about her injury and she yanked off her sock and sneaker and lifted her bare foot for me to see her scars. I guess that wasn't close enough as the next thing I knew she had rounded the desk, turned her back to me and lifted her foot up for me to see. I cupped her ankle and felt a jolt at touching her warm skin. Without my permission my finger traced the faint white lines over her Achilles.

I think I felt her tremble. I hoped I was affecting her the same way she was affecting me, I really wanted this woman to want me too. This was too intense to ignore.

"Hey Ranger! We were just wondering if we could steal Tiny Dancer over here, we're heading out for an early lunch. We're booked solid from 11 till 5." Les looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I had guiltily dropped her foot to the floor when Lester had interrupted us and I guess he caught it.

_He wanted to take "Tiny Dancer" for lunch huh?_

I hoped he wasn't trying to hook up with her. I liked the guy n' all, so I'd hate to punch his face in.

Jealousy wasn't a feeling I was used to.

I figured it was probably time to get out of here, before I started beating my chest and proclaiming she was mine.

I thanked her for the coffee and took off. I could hear Les razzing her, but that was fine with me. If he thought something was going on with us, maybe he'd back off a little.

Now I just had to figure out how I was going to see her again before next week. I didn't want to wait that long. I also had to see how serious this Joe situation was.

The rest of the day went pretty quickly. I met with our trainer, and together we came up with a plan for me to bulk up a little. It seemed like all the new kids coming up were getting bigger; more difficult for me to check. You'd think being 6'1" and 200lbs I wouldn't have problems knocking these forwards around, but these kids were getting fucking massive!

I had a meeting with my agent and attorney after that. They had obliged my schedule and met me at the training facility. We needed to go over my new contract; I was due to go unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. The last thing I wanted was to go somewhere else. Everybody I loved and cared about was in this area. Granted, they would only be a plane ride away…I just didn't want to leave. I couldn't get a certain blue eyed beauty out of my mind though. We tentatively agreed to the new contract, and I wasn't unhappy with my new salary. Paying for two apartments in NYC was fucking expensive.

The day had slipped by without me noticing. I hadn't realized it was nearly 6. I wanted to run through the new weight program Cal had come up with one more time. Changing my clothes again, I headed to the gym. When I scanned the room I was really surprised to see Stephanie running full tilt on the tread-mill. I would have thought she'd have headed out by now. I caught her eye in the mirror, waved and headed to the weight bench. Not to sound too much like a girl, but every time I saw this woman I felt a rush of…something in my stomach .

She finished her run as I was messing with the weights, and made her way over to me.

"Do you think that'll be okay on your wrist?" I grinned up at her, this was about 25lbs heavier than I was used to but it didn't seem too far out of my comfort zone

"It's fine; I tried this earlier with Cal Ramsey. We think I should bulk up a little more. You can spot me if you like." Still smiling I pushed the bar out of the holder and brought it to my chest. She stepped toward the head end of the bench and looked at the weights on the bar.

"Yeesh! 250lbs! What a show off, do me a favor and try not to drop the damn thing. I'd really hate it if I got fired on my first day for maiming the illustrious captain. This is way too much for me to handle."

I winked at her and got to pressing. Looking up at her I realized how close she was to me. I didn't know where to look first. I wrestled my eyes away from her crotch, best not to think about that particular spot on her anatomy just yet. How about her tight tank top that was soaked through and was molded to her breasts? Nope not there either.

_Jesus! Find somewhere to put your eyes!_

Looking at her face would have been way too intense while I was trying to concentrate. By rep 15 I was struggling a little. I settled on staring at the ceiling.

Finally I got to 20; I slipped the bar back into the holder and sat up.

_Man, I'm such a selfish fuck._

Here she's just finished her own workout and I have her spot for me instead of letting her cool down and take off. I reached for a towel and handed it to her, just in time to see a tiny bead of sweat travel down her throat and drip between her tits. She rubbed the towel across her chest and drew in a breath to say something, when we locked eyes again. God knows what she saw on my face, but she remained silent and looked a little scared.

She gathered herself and said, "Umm…will you be okay if I head out? I've got to hit the showers and head home. My roomie will be waiting, and I haven't had dinner yet, so…yeah, you'll be alright?"

I really needed to dial it back a bit if I was going to stand a chance with this woman, even I could see I was going to frighten her away.

"Yeah don't worry about me. I've got about 45 minutes more to do and then I'll be heading out too. Don't walk out alone though. Have the guard walk you to your car."

_Maybe I could do something about that "haven't had dinner yet" though._

She smiled at me and tried to assure me that she'd be okay.

"I'll be fine Carlos. I grew up in Trenton, and now I live in Manhattan. I know how to watch my back. Joe made sure I had pepper spray and knew self-defense before I moved to my new apartment."

_Hmmm…More of that Joe guy…Where in the city?_

"Humor me babe, if you don't want to bother the guard, wait for me to finish up and I'll walk you out. I don't want anything bad to happen to you on your first day either."

_I didn't like this "Joe" but at least he made sure she knew how to defend herself._

"Really I'll be okay. Don't worry about it. I really do need to get going." She made to turn away, then turned back with her hand out.

"It was great to meet you today; we've been fans of yours since you joined the team."

I grasped her hand but pulled her in closer to me. I reached out one finger and pushed a stray curl behind her ear. I really wanted to pull her face to me and kiss her silly, but I think it may have been too soon for that.

_Oh, I was so in trouble with this woman. _

"If you wait for me to get done I'll make it worth your while."

_Umm…WHAT?_

_What the fuck did I just say?_

"Oh yeah? How're you going to do that?" She said somewhat pissily.

_Ummm… I don't think she wants to hear what I was really thinking._

"I'll take you out to dinner, you said you hadn't eaten yet, and I'll be starving by the time I'm done here. Come on! Don't make me eat alone. My daughter's with her mom tonight and tomorrow." I gave pouting my best shot.

_C'mon babe._

She looked like she was going to tell me to go fuck myself for a second, but she rolled her eyes and I could see when she talked herself into waiting for me. She had such an expressive face, it seemed like everything she was thinking flashed across her features a split second before it came out of her mouth.

"Fine, whatever, I'll wait for you. I should probably stretch anyway."

I couldn't help but grin. I'll have to try that pouty, poor me look again.

She made her way over to the other side of the gym where there was some open space. I moved to the next machine, reset the weights and got working. I tried to keep my eyes off her as much as possible, but these "stretches" were killing me. She worked through three different kinds of splits and held each one for fucking ever. I was moving around the gym, but I couldn't have taken my eyes off her for anything. She was leaning into each stretch and making these little sighing noises, I really wanted to make her sigh like that in a completely different context. I was holding a 50 lb. dumbbell when my dick had decided it had had enough. I was rock hard and I was seriously contemplating dragging her into the locker room when the weight slipped out of my hand and hit the floor with a huge clang.

"You okay?" She called to me. "Did you hurt your wrist again?"

"No, I'm fine, it just slipped out of my hand. You know what? I'm pretty much done here. I'm gonna go shower in the locker room. If you need to, there are women's showers right through that doorway there." I pointed in the right direction. "We can head out after?" Hopefully she'd be okay with that. I had to get out of this room. Right fucking now.

I pretty much ran to the locker room to shower. I had to have a pretty strong talk with my dick. He wanted to relieve some tension, but I couldn't let myself do it. It seemed wrong to take care of that here. And besides, I barely knew her yet. It was definitely wrong to fantasize about someone you just met…right? Even if I got hard 3 times today just from being near her.

30 minutes later I was in her office doorway, watching her tie up her wet hair.

_Mmmmm…I can smell her soap from here! God! I just want to rub myself all over her and…_

_Shut the hell up moron!_

"You ready to go?" I asked.

"Yep, just let me grab my bag." She finished putting her wet hair in bun, threw on a sweatshirt, shrugged her big bag over her shoulder and made her way over to me. I blocked her path and stared down at her for a second. I was wrestling with what I wanted to say to her. What wanted to come out was pretty forward and demanding, but I needed to say it.

"You okay?" She looked at me questioningly.

"Yeah." I was surprised at how rough my voice sounded. "Who's the guy in the picture on your desk?"

"What? That one?" She picked up the picture that I had looked at earlier.

"This was taken at a dance competition the year before I was hurt. Joe had just joined the navy. He was home after basic training, and was due to ship out the next day. He didn't get leave for 7 months after that."

"Who is he Stephanie? Is he your boyfriend?" I needed to know. I'd make a move on her no matter what, but I didn't want there to be any obstacles.

"Eeeew no! He's like my brother for goodness sake!" She looked at me incredulously. "We've been best friends since I was 6 and he was 8. His dad was an asshole alcoholic and was on a tirade that day, he thought that Joe had broken something that he, himself had knocked over. Joe and I hid in my garage and played till his dad passed out. He's an awesome guy, but just…eeew no. That would be really disgusting."

"I'm really glad to hear that." I really was.

"What? Why?"

She looked confused for a second, then I could see it dawn on her.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I don't have any of this prewritten, so I don't know if I'll alternate POV's all the way through. It's mostly going to depend on what I hear in my head.**

**These characters don't belong to me, but this plot does.**

SPOV

_Oh! OH!_

"Oh"

"Stephanie listen, I'd really like to continue this conversation away from here if we can? I can follow you home and we can head somewhere for dinner, or we can meet up somewhere if you'd like that better?" He was giving me those eyes again, they were pretty persuasive.

If his daughter got those eyes from him, watch out world.

He finally moved from the doorway, I closed my door and we headed out. I thought about it for a second, I don't think I was ready to go _out _with him. Maybe we could meet up somewhere casual, maybe close to the loft. There was a cute little casual place a couple of doors down from my building. I'd had dinner there last week and it was really good.

"Have you ever been to Pita Pan? It's a burger and sandwich place on Jane St, It's usually quiet and it's open late." He nodded slowly.

"How close is that to your place?" He asked me.

"Three buildings over, why?"

"I live on Horatio right off West St."

He held the main door for me and waved to the guard.

"You're kidding! That's like 5 minutes away from me. I would've thought that you'd live in some swanky building up by the park." He shook his head at me.

"No, Rachel and I liked how great the schools were in the West Village and fell in love with the area. After we split I stayed as close as I could"

"I only moved here last month and I already love it. I sort if inherited a rent controlled loft from my uncle who passed away. I'd still have to commute from Trenton if I hadn't lucked out. I didn't think there were any rent controlled places left in the city. It has these huge windows and it's got this great old kitchen, it's technically only one room, but it's a huge room and I love it." By this time we'd arrived at my car, I chucked my bag into the back and turned to face him. He was very close to me. Usually I don't like people invading my personal space, but that rule didn't seem to apply to him. With him, I seemed to want to move in closer. He radiated heat and such a delicious, clean scent that I wanted to lay my cheek on his chest and breathe him in. This man was entirely too…everything.

"So I'll meet you in about an hour?" I said looking up at him.

_Hmmm…he really is the perfect height._

"Yeah, here, give me your phone and I'll put my number in, in case you need to get in touch."

I handed him my cell, he called his own cell, and handed it back to me.

"So, an hour?" He asked.

"Sure"

_Okay, I just need to fan girl for a second, I WAS MEETING THE CAPTAIN OF THE NEW YORK RANGERS FOR DINNER! _

_HOLY SHIT!_

_Okay, shake it off._

The nervousness I felt being near him earlier was starting to wear off. I was starting to get used to this warm glowy buzz that he had caused to flare inside me. Weirdly, I had no qualms about letting him know where I live or giving him my number. Besides him being very well known, there was something inherently trustworthy about him. I'd always been a good judge of character; this sense had helped me dodge a relationship with that seemingly charming, fuckwit Dickie Orr. I tried to always listen to that inner voice. Right now she was telling me to see where this was going. I really didn't want to seem like I was jumping on the first guy who showed an interest in me. But, the feelings this man was stirring up in me...I don't know if I've ever felt anything like this.

I beeped the car unlocked and climbed in. Carlos leaned down and locked eyes with me, he gave me that panty melting grin of his.

"Drive safe."

"You, too."

His eyes flicked down to my mouth, but he quickly pulled his head out of the door and shut it gently. I started the car and backed away. He stood for a few seconds watching me drive away.

When I got to the driveway and looked up to the rear view mirror I noticed that I had a huge goofy smile on my face, and it wouldn't go away!

I wondered if I should run home and put something nicer on, or do something more inventive with my hair. My hair! I yanked it out of its bun and shook it out. I had put some anti-frizz stuff in it after my shower. Hopefully it wouldn't get to bushy if I let it air dry. I thought about calling Joe, but decided against it for right now. Firstly he would bitch at me for talking while driving, secondly, and more importantly, he would go freakin' nuts if he knew I was going to have dinner with Carlos Manoso. It'd have to wait till I got home later on.

I made it back into the city with only minimal bumper to bumper traffic. Amazing, I know! I was looking forward to cabbing it to the Garden tomorrow, instead of driving. I had to see only two of the players tomorrow at the medical suite in the arena. I hadn't seen the suite yet and I was pretty excited about it.

The major drawback of living in the Manhattan was parking. If all the tenants were home already there was absolutely no chance of being able to fit my little car into the minuscule parking lot. So I could either hunt for an hour and a half for a spot somewhere on the street or fork over $20 to use the pay lot over-night. I chose the pay lot as I had somewhere exciting to be. I ran up to my apartment, yelled hi to Rex, my hamster, and did a quick change of clothes. I didn't want to be too dressy, but I thought this evening called for more than a sweatshirt and track pants. I pulled on some skinny jeans, my tall, flat heeled boots and a pretty red sweater, I checked myself out. Not bad. I fluffed my hair, threw on a jacket, hooked Rex up with a few Cheerios and headed out.

As soon as I set foot on the street I could see Carlos walking toward the restaurant, he noticed me, smiled big and ambled over to me. Yeesh! Was this man sexy or what? Sexier still as he was very confident, but not in an _I'm a gorgeous sex god_ way. It was more in the realm of _I love my life, and I'm good at what I do_ kind of way. He had the most handsome face I'd ever seen, with deep brown eyes and prominent cheekbones. His skin was a beautiful, smooth, natural deep tan color. His lips looked soft, full and sensuous. I got a thrill at the idea that maybe sometime in the near future I might get a kiss from those lips. Right now though, I was stuck in the tractor beam of his gaze and was completely stupefied by it. He stopped so close to me that I had to lift my face to see him.

"Hey" he said softly.

"Hi"

_Really? I was so fucking eloquent sometimes, I astounded even myself!_

"You hungry?" He asked.

"Friggin' starving!" He chuckled at that.

"Me too, c'mon lets go."

He turned and we headed to the sandwich shop. We walked so close together that our arms would brush against each other. Even through my jacket and sweater I could feel that electric hum arc between us.

"You look really nice by the way" he said looking down at me.

"Thanks" I couldn't help but blush at the compliment.

Reaching Pita Pan, he held the door for me and we went to the counter to order. This place was arranged like a nicer coffee shop. Each corner had the same set up; a loveseat and 2 armchairs grouped around a coffee table. Small tables and chairs were scattered around as well. We chose one of the corners and got comfy. Curling up in the chair I sipped my coffee while we waited for our food. He sat very near to me on the sofa, our knees grazing. It was already 9:00 and quiet in here as it was a Monday night, we had the place to ourselves.

"How old is your daughter?"

I had to get the conversation going. He had been staring at me again. It really should have bothered me, but I just couldn't bring myself to do anything but bask in his attention.

"She just turned 8, her name is Julie."

He pulled out his phone to show me a photo of a little carbon copy of him, only with pigtails and dimples. She was completely adorable. She, no doubt, would drive Carlos crazy in the future. Julie had the kind of beauty that, when matured, would drive men to do really stupid shit to get her to notice them.

"She's beautiful Carlos, really. You're going to need to do the whole gun cleaning bit when she starts dating and boys come to pick her up!"

I had no doubts this man would protect his little girl, no matter what.

"Please don't bring it up! I know I'm dreading it. She's the sweetest thing right now, but I sense some rocky teen years down the road. She knows her own mind, you know? She's very smart; I don't think she'll turn into one of those bitchy mean girls though. I mostly worry about the way the world will treat her. I know I can't stop all the bad out there, that that would be unfair, I just...I don't know I've felt like this since she was born." He ended shrugging his shoulders.

"I can't imagine! It must be so overwhelming to love someone that much. I have 3 nieces, and we have a lot of fun together. I know I'd protect them as much as I could if I had to, but I guess that feeling is exponentially greater when it's your own child."

"Yeah I'm one of five kids, at this point I have so many nieces and nephews I sometimes lose track! It is different when they're your own."

"Holy moly! It's only my sister and I and I don't know how we all lived in our little house together."

"Yeah it was crowded, but we're all still pretty close, my sister Celia and I especially. She's Julie's godmother."

Our food arrived just then and we tucked into it. We chatted some more and I learned as much about him in what wasn't said as I did in the words that were spoken. He was articulate and intelligent, a loving family man. He was aware that he was an amazing athlete, but wasn't braggy about it. I was actually able to forget that I was sitting next to a world class hockey player, and got so absorbed into the conversation that I was surprised when an employee turned on a vacuum cleaner behind us. Not too subtly telling us we'd broken one of my cardinal rules of never staying in a restaurant past closing! I leaned back, only now noticing that our faces were less than a foot apart while we were talking.

"Well I guess that means we should be getting out if here." I said while we stood and gathered our plates. He helped me carry them to the counter.

"I'll pay." He said and gently pushed my hand away that was holding my wallet. I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted.

"Please? You can get the next time? C'mon Babe." He was giving me those eyes again.

"Fine" I sighed. He looked triumphant and gave me the panty melter again. He turned to pay and he left a hefty tip for keeping everyone here so late. The poor cashier looked completely dumbstruck. I guess she had accidentally gotten the full force of that grin.

"C'mon Babe I'll walk you home."

He placed his hand at the small of my back and guided me out the door.

_Ooooh! I love that. _

It should piss me off that he feels it necessary to guide me out, but I can't be upset that his hands are anywhere on me. The next time we…

_Wait a minute, next time?_

"Next time?" I stopped to look at him.

"Well yeah, I'd really like to take you out again" he swallowed hard and looked a little nervous.

_Hmmmm_

"So what? Like a date?" I just needed to hear him to say it out loud, even though I was pretty sure that's what this was. I hated not knowing exactly where I stood.

"Um yeah, if that's alright? Would you like that?"

I looked ahead, thinking hard. I did really want to see him again, but I didn't think it would reflect too well on me at work. Then again I didn't think there'd be a huge problem. They hadn't mentioned anything about employee fraternization during the hiring process. I did think we should keep it quiet for now and see how things went.

"Yes, I would really like it if we went out again. This may sound fucked up, but I'd like to keep it quiet for now? I don't want any problems at work. I just started and I don't want to give the wrong impression." He looked a little irritated for a second when I said that, but that quickly dissolved, and he gave me that gorgeous grin. We'd arrived at the front door to my building and I turned to him.

"I'll walk you up" not a question, a statement.

"Sure." I dug my keys out and unlocked the front door. We climbed to the third floor and I stopped outside my door.

"This is me."

I so badly wanted to invite him in, but given the feelings he was evoking in me, I thought it best that he go home now. My head wasn't ready for what the rest of my body had wanted since I first saw him reclining on my exam table. I'd had a one night stand in college and regretted it ever since. Anything intimate with this man would be incredibly intense. I just knew it. It would have to wait for now.

"Well, goodnight"

We locked eyes. I stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, but he turned slightly and I caught the corner of his mouth. His hands slid up to gently cradle my face and he kissed me full on the mouth.

_Oh my god! I think my stomach just liquefied. _

I felt heat rush through every single part of my body, and moaned. Suddenly my back was against the door and his hands were around my waist. He lifted me slightly and I opened my lips to him. His tongue slipped into my mouthand the fire inside me intensified. By the time we came up for air, I had my legs around his waist, his hands were back buried in my hair keeping my face to his and he was holding me up with his hips.

_Oh! That wasn't a cup I saw in his gym shorts earlier! That was all him!_

I ground against him once and he moaned low and deep. Gasping for breath I saw that same look in his now nearly black eyes as I had in the gym.

His mouth moved down my neck.

"Carlos...unh! We need to stop"

I banged my head against the door; I _really_ didn't want to stop. I relaxed my grip from his hair, _oops! _He took a deep breath and I could see the calm wash over him. He leaned his head against my shoulder, shaking his head back and forth. I could hear him muttering something quietly. Slowly he backed up enough to lower me to the floor. My eyes may have rolled back in my head a little as I slid down him; he was just so hard everywhere.

"You better open that door Babe before I try to change your mind about saying goodnight."

His voice was rough and low. Making me rethink sending him home. I fumbled with my keys and managed to unlock the damn deadbolt. I backed into my apartment completely at war with myself, I ended up deciding it was best to say goodnight. I'd see him tomorrow sometime, and the team were on a home game run for the next week and a half, so maybe we could get to that second date before they went on the road.

"Text me when you get home?" He nodded and slowly dropped my hand he was still holding; he put one arm around my waist and pulled me flush against him for one last sweet kiss.

"Goodnight Babe, I'll see you tomorrow? I can stop by the medical suite after morning skate."

"Yeah, that'll be good." We stared at each other for a minute before his smile widened.

"Babe, close the door and lock it. Then I'll go."

I reached up and gave him one more kiss.

"Goodnight Carlos, I'll see you tomorrow."

He backed away and I closed and locked the door. Resting my forehead against it I did some deep breathing.

Wow! He really knew how to heat me up. I gave some serious thought to using my massaging hand held shower head to hold me over, but decided against it.

For now.

I wanted to wait for him to text me that he had gotten home before I went to bed. I know, I know! He's a big strong guy who just picked me up without me even noticing, granted I was a little busy at the time and not entirely sure that I didn't climb him like a tree. Whatever. The point was, was that I was sure he could defend himself against a mugger, I mean, you should see him knock those forwards around on the ice. It was just that some of the stories that Joe had brought home from the police department scared the shit out of me. There were some really bad people out there.

I made my way over to my bed and dropped my clothes on the floor. This had been a really long day. Looking at my clock I saw it was 12:15.

_Unh! I have to be up in 6 hours! _

I shuffled into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My cheeks were stained deep pink, my eyes were really bright, despite how tired I was, and there was a huge grin stretched across my face. My hair was all over from having his long fingers in it. If I looked like this after a quick and dirty make out against the door. What would I look like if we actually had sex?

My phone chimed a text alert and I'm not ashamed to admit that I leapt across the bed to grab my phone out of my discarded pants.

_**Night Babe, I'll see you tomorrow-C**_

I knew he was probably tired too, but I was kicking myself for not telling him to call me. I wanted to hear his voice again, but replied in kind.

_**Goodnight Carlos, I'll see you tomorrow-S**_

I plugged my phone in so I wouldn't keep texting him. Went to brush my teeth and nearly smacked myself in the head realizing I hadn't called Joe at all today. Oh he was going to be so pissed at me. He was coming to the game tomorrow, but I know he'd want to know who I met today and how it went.

I didn't want to call his phone and wake him. He got up at 5 most mornings to head into work.

I sent him a quick text. If he was sleeping he probably wouldn't wake from the little chime.

_**Hey, sorry so late, you won't believe the day I've had! I'll talk to you in the am. Sorry!**_

30 seconds later my phone chirped,

_**I'm not speaking to you. You spent the day with the New York Rangers and you wait till the middle of the night to finally tell me about it. I will most likely have forgiven you by tomorrow night in time for the game. I'll meet you outside your new workplace at 6:00. You can make it up to me by showing me around. **_

I'm such a shitty friend. Showing him around before the game was the least I could do.

_**Of course! I'm so sorry! Go back to sleep. Text me when your train comes in and I'll meet you outside. **_

Damn it! I hope he wasn't really pissed. I can't believe I woke him up. He never seems to get enough sleep because of his job.

_**I'm fucking with you cupcake. I've been stuck on a double homicide since 2 this afternoon. I'm leaving here in 5 and I'm going to pass out as soon as I get home. I'm surprised that you weren't wondering why I didn't call you earlier. I'll call you before I get on the train. See you tomorrow.**_

Oh! He's such a shithead sometimes.

_**You're lucky I love you. I'm sorry about your shitty case. Night night. **_

I finally laid my phone on the nightstand and crawled under my duvet. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Guess who I dreamed about? I'll give you a clue. He wears the #25 and he's one sexy motherfucker.


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own these characters; they belong to the amazing JE. I do, however, own this plot.**

SPOV

My alarm went off much too early, but I dragged my ass out of bed and into the bathroom anyway. I needed to be at MSG by 8:30 to tour the facility with Dr. Boulanger and my first patient was coming in at 9:30. The first rays of orange were streaking across the sky so I opened all my shades. I got the coffee going and headed over to the barre my dad had mounted under the window sill. I flexed and stretched my feet, taped my toes and yanked on my pointe shoes. I turned on my music and got to work. There was a park directly across the street so I had something interesting to look at while I worked out. It was leafless and grey at this time of year, but in the spring I think it will be lovely. It was really hard to concentrate on technique when I couldn't make my brain stop from picturing Carlos in various scenarios. It wasn't just his beauty that attracted me though. For such a prominent person, he was very down to earth, he was smart and sweet and the way he kissed me! I could still feel it now.

I gave up after a half hour and did some deep stretching and some quick turns. I finished up and hopped in the shower, dried my hair, wolfed down some cereal, fed Rex and headed out.

My phone chirped as I headed to 8th Ave, I got stupidly giddy when I saw it was a text from Carlos.

_**Morning babe-C**_

_**Good morning my captain ;) -S**_

Three seconds later my phone rang. when I saw his name pop up on my screen…well, the only way I can describe what I felt was you know how when somebody shakes a bottle of soda then opens it and it fizzes out all over? Yeah…that's what I was feeling inside.

I was really starting to annoy myself.

"Hello," At least he couldn't see the goofy grin on my face.

"You're going to need to greet me every morning just like that text babe."

"What? Good morning my captain?" I tried for a sultry voice, but was pretty sure I failed.

"Yeah...you know what you're doing to me right?" Or maybe it did work.

"No, what am I doing to you?" I just couldn't resist fucking with him.

"What? You're messing with me right? When my teammates call me captain it doesn't sound nearly as good as when you say it."

I tried to suppress the giggle at how guilty he sounded and failed miserably.

He snorted, "You know what you are..." he cleared his throat, "before this deteriorates into a really perverted conversation, are you on your way in?"

I raised my arm to hail a cab; 8th Ave. was awash in yellow cars. Only one had its medallion light on, thankfully it stopped for me.

"Yep, just hopped in a cab." I said shutting the door and telling the driver where I needed to go.

"I should be there in about 10 minutes. You there already?"

"No, I'm just waiting for the car service to pick me up. We could have ridden in together."

I felt a smile split my face, he was just so cute. He sounded disappointed.

"It's okay, that doesn't really go with the whole 'let's keep this quiet at work for now' thing does it?"

"I guess not. Look Steph, I gotta say I don't really like hiding things, it feels sneaky."

"Hey, we're not _hiding _anything, were just not broadcasting it. I just met you yesterday Carlos. This…whatever this is kind of intense right?" He made a little affirmative noise. "I need a few minutes to wrap my head around it. You have to understand. You're already respected by everyone at work. Hardly anybody there knows me; I just don't want to give the wrong impression. Okay?"

He sighed deeply, "Okay, my car just pulled up. I'll see you in a couple of hours"

"Bye Carlos"

"Hmmm…I like that too…bye babe."

I hung up smiling big, and in a few minutes pulled up to the Garden. I threw some money at the cabbie and jumped out. I have to say it was awesome to flash my ID at the door and enter the arena. I'd been her many times as a fan, and once during the hiring process. Usually I was here with Joe, my dad, and swarms of excited fans. The chatter and razzing that went on between the fans was absent, but the energy remained. This is where the Rangers, Knicks and the Liberty all played. Countless concerts had been held here. It was like the building held onto a faint echo of every amazing event that'd happened here and if you listened carefully, you could hear it all.

It was official! This was my absolute dream job. I really didn't think I could get any happier than I was in this moment.

_Get a grip honey, security is looking at you! _

I snapped back into myself and hurried to the labyrinth of corridors that led to the medical offices. It took me a few, but I found Dr. Boulanger's office. He was crammed behind a huge desk that still seemed too small for his massive frame.

"Hey, what's up doc?" I gave him the wiggly eyebrows.

He smiled sardonically and said, "Oh! Comment l'original, allez Petite Danseuse."

"Not you too! Did Bobby and Lester have to tell everyone?"

He laughed his rumbly chuckle and answered in English, "what did you expect? You nickname someone Molester; they're going to get you back."

I rolled my eyes at him. "He deserved it and you know it."

Doc simply shrugged and gestured for me to follow him down the hall. Stopping at the main door for the treatment rooms, he pushed the door open to a huge, long room filled with hydrotherapy tubs, exam/treatment tables, various pieces of equipment and a small lap pool. All tiled in bright white and well lit. Unfortunately the suite was behind the main floor of the arena so we didn't have any windows, but at least the players didn't have far to go if they got injured while playing. I could hear a coach's whistle and the scrape of skates on the ice, and got a little thrill at the thought that Carlos might be on the ice already.

"Your desk is over there" Doc told me, pointing to the far corner, I headed over and dropped my bag, I had brought more resistance bands and foam rollers to leave here, so I found a spot for them. I connected my iPad to the Mac on the desk and Doc showed me how to access all the records I would need and the different programs that helped us share information between the staff. All of this was on a closed system to prevent any outsiders accessing private health information on the players.

"C'mon I'll show you the X-ray area." We left the therapy rooms and entered the diagnostics area. I was floored by the advanced technology they had in here. It put most hospitals to shame; there were three different kinds of X-ray machines, and a portable in the corner, a CAT scanner in a separate room, and a specially built MRI room across from there. I guess when you're taking care of extremely highly paid athletes you give them a private hospital for any injuries that may befall them.

"Suturing trays and glue are in that cabinet over there" Doc said indicating the far wall. I wouldn't be using any of that, but it'd be good to know where it was if someone had their hands full and needed an assist.

"I'm also going to show you the locker rooms; evaluating fresh injuries is part of your job as well, so you're going to have to go in here at times. I hope you're not bashful. These guys aren't known for being modest. They won't misbehave with you though. You have my word on that"

"No big thing, Doc. You have no idea how many dancers I had to work with between costume changes!" No joke, I'd seen many a topless ballerina, and I'd lost count of how many male dancers I'd seen in only a dance belt, a lot of costume changes during a show aren't done in a dressing room. It's always a quick and discreet change though, so it's no big deal.

He gave his rumbling chuckle and we moved on. He tapped quickly on the locker room door, pushed it open and we walked in, and because god hates me (or maybe loves me, depending on how you looked at it) there stood Carlos in his hockey shorts, socks and skates…only his hockey shorts, socks and skates.

_Oooohhhh! HOLY SHIT!_

He had the most gorgeous body I'd ever seen, hands down. I'd seen some very beautiful people before, but this man...there aren't enough words in the English language to describe the glorious, toned perfection of his musculature. I picked my jaw up from the floor and dragged my eyes from his delicious pecs to look at his very pleased face.

"Hey Doc, Steph, sorry I should be on the ice, but I'm having a problem with my pads. They're fixing them for me." He pointed over to where the equipment manager's area was. Doc walked over to him, but I stayed by the door. I didn't trust myself to get any nearer to him. He very, very slowly dragged a long sleeved undershirt over his head.

_Oh he's giving me a show! I could seriously come to love this man. _

He and Doc talked for a few minutes while I looked around, the room was large and oval and lined with large wooden cubbies for holding equipment, and a bench running all around the room. There was a shower room off to the side and the equipment area is to the left of that. I could feel his eyes on me and turned to face him. He was looking at me, but still talking to Doc, who was standing with his back to me. I felt a shy smile spread on my face.

The equipment manager came over and Carlos slipped the mended pads over his head, threw on his practice jersey and came in my direction. He had such bright smile on his face. I could tell that he was happy that I was so stunned by the impromptu peep show. His eyes flicked down to my chest and the smile got impossibly brighter. I looked down and much to my mortification; I realized that my nipples were straining against my shirt like tiny pencil erasers. Well at least we'd covered how attracted to him I was yesterday when I practically dry humped him against my door. He stopped about a foot away from me and I craned my neck to look at him.

_Oh yumm! Just...yum!_

"I'll see you in two hours or so?"

"Uh...yeah, sure". I was honestly waiting for him to kiss me, before remembering where we were and looked down with my cheeks flaming. He brushed his ungloved fingers against mine and went through the door. I looked at Doc, but he was pretending to be busy studying the names above the player's cubbies.

_Shit! I guess I was being pretty obvious. _

"Damn! Look at the time, I have to get back! I have to see Brendan Boyler in a half hour and I want to go over his records." I turned to make my escape.

"You know, Steph, Ranger…Carlos is a really good friend of mine."

_Double shit! Why didn't he tell me he was besties with my immediate boss?_

"Um, that's good? Okay I'm going to head back and get set up."

I fled back to my desk, pulled up the records and forced myself to concentrate. Bobby and Molester had come in in my absence and were already busy with their own patients. As I finished up, Les' patient hopped up, waved at me and left.

_Wow! Hal Henrikson just waved at me!_

I watched him head to the locker rooms completely star struck.

"You better be careful, Tiny Dancer, I thought you were saving that look for Ranger." Les had a very evil smile on his face; it kinda made me want to smack him.

"What look? I told you yesterday it's going to take a while for me to get used to working with these guys. I've been watching this team play since I was a baby!"

The bastard was laughing at me!

"Hey, you should have seen him when he first started, Tiny Dancer, he was so tongue tied the first time Ranger came in here he could barely treat him!" Bobby crowed.

"That is NOT true!" Lester looked outraged.

"Yeah well Carlos is pretty good looking so I could see where you might have a problem Les" I was 99% certain that Les was straight, but hey you never know right?

"What? NO! Not like that! It was just…he's the captain! And it was my first week, and it was all so overwhelming you know?"

"Okay then let me fan girl in peace you asshole! Such a hypocrite! Apparently you're homophobic as well." I said shaking my head at him. "You should be ashamed Molester, I have a lot of gay friends, and I'm offended on their behalf." He was just too easy to fuck with, I couldn't resist.

"Hey, so do I! Stop putting words in my mouth! I was just trying to…you know what? Never mind!"

I burst out laughing at his indignant face, and Bobby joined in. Les looked petulant for a few minutes, then gave in and started laughing as well.

"You're alright Tiny Dancer." Bobby said, "You'll fit in here okay."

My appointment walked in just then, all 6'7" of him! I really should get used to feeling like a pocket sized person around here. I don't think I'd seen one person under 6' today.

I ran through some evaluations with him and after consulting with Doc had the honor taking someone off the disabled list and putting them back on the roster.

"Alright Brendan, you can suit up tomorrow. You don't have to wear the yellow jersey for practice, but go easy on contact. "

"Thanks Steph! I was so fucking bored sitting around waiting for my thumb to heal."

"At least you were able to skate, right?" Boyler had had a fracture in the first metacarpal, he'd been skating since it happened and puck handling for the last week, but was only now getting cleared completely to suit up for the game against Phoenix in three days.

_I love, love, love my job. _

My next appointment was a kid that was just called up from Hartford, our AHL team. I had to do a routine therapy session on an old healed injury that was giving him some pain in his right shoulder. He wasn't coming in until noon, so I was free till then. I went to grab some coffee and a snack and headed into the arena. I wandered over to the boards and watched the guys practice. They were lined up in two rows firing shot after shot at Henrikson. I'd be peeing my pants if that was me facing all those pucks! I was absorbed in watching them take off for the other end of the ice when a puck slapped the glass about 3 inches from my face. I jumped and saw Carlos grinning at me, he skated backwards for a beat then turned sharply and disappeared to the other end of the ice.

_Asshole! Beautiful, sexy, asshole!_

I watched them all till the end of their practice session and headed back to my desk. I was going over the medical history of my next patient when Carlos came in wearing a suit.

_Is there nothing this guy doesn't look good in?_

"Hi babe, you wanna walk with me?"

_Anywhere you want baby!_

"Sure, I only have a few minutes though, what's the occasion?" I said nodding to today's outfit.

"We dress up on game days." He said shrugging. "Why? You like it?"

"Yeah, you look good." Understatement of the century! He looked like sex walking. Although, the shirtless look this morning may have beaten this ensemble by a hair. I had been following him down one of the maze of corridors and we'd come to a grouping of offices, he stood aside and motioned me into one and closed the door behind us. Without warning he grabbed my face and kissed me, thankfully he was holding me up because I got a little weak-kneed.

_Oh my god! Can this man kiss! _

His hands had slid down and he splayed them on my lower back to hold me tightly against him. His fingers rubbed against the skin on my back that had become exposed when I threw my arms around his neck. Little zings of electric pleasure were shooting through me from every point of contact. When just the tips of his pinkies worked under the waistband of my pants, I froze. He pulled his hands away immediately. Instantly contrite.

"I'm sorry babe; I seem to be having some self-control issues when you're around."

"Yeah you're not the only one with that problem." His big hands cupped my face again. He rubbed a thumb under my bottom lip removing a smudge of lip gloss. I returned the favor. Maybe I should switch to chapstick, and then it wouldn't be nearly as suspicious when it was all over him.

"I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to lunch, I have to head home after that to rest up for tonight. You're coming to the game right?"

"I'd love to go to lunch, but I have a patient to see in a half hour, after that ill have only 15 minutes till my next patient. They'll be flowing in all afternoon. Les is going to be working the game with Cal tonight, but Joe and I had bought tickets before I was even hired. Our seats are right behind the bench." He smiled at that.

"You gonna distract me babe? That may not be the best place for you to sit if you want us to win tonight." Of course, he was kidding. I'd watched this man play from a distance for a long time now. He was _always_ laser focused and determined to win.

"It's not _your_ concentration that I'm worried about. These are the best seats we've ever had. There'll be so much going on I won't know which way to look!"

"Oh, I'll give you something to look at baby!"

"You already did! This morning! Holy crap I thought my face was going to go up in flames…I think Doc knows that there's something going on. And why didn't you tell me he's your friend?" I punctuated that last with a light slap on his chest. His delicious firm chest. I may have run my palm over that chest before pulling it away.

"Babe, he and I have been friends for years. He's a great man; he's incredibly trustworthy and _not _quick to jump to conclusions. He won't say anything about what he _thinks _may be going on unless you or I say something to him. He might corner me sooner or later if I don't stop acting goofy around you, but I'll deal with that, okay?" I nodded mollified for now. I finally looked around and saw we were in a smallish office with a standard desk, chair and visitor seating setup you'd find in any office building.

"Whose office is this?" It had to be the most boring office I'd ever seen.

"Mine. I hardly ever use it; I don't even know why they gave me one." He said shrugging. "Alright, if I can't get you to play hooky today, I'm going to take off." He was trying to use the eyes again.

"Nope, not gonna work this time Captain. I love my job too much to lose it on my second day." He gave me the megawatt grin, leaned in, kissed me softly and slowly pulled away.

"Maybe I can see you after the game? Would that be okay? You said your friend is going to meet you here right? Are you going to grab dinner with him after?"

"I'd like to see you later; Joe's probably going to go straight home after the game. He has to get up before dawn to catch all those criminals."

"He's a cop?"

"Yeah, homicide detective. He's seen some really bad shit Carlos, you don't want to know some of the stories he's told me." He'd kill me if he thought I'd ever told anyone this, but most of those stories had been told to me while 'big bad Joe' had his head in my lap, and I scratched his scalp. We hadn't had one of those therapy sessions since I moved into my new place. I just hoped that he was doing okay.

"Would you like to meet him later? I think you'll like him." He arched a skeptical brow, but nodded.

"I can be back here around 5:30; I'll text you before I go on the ice for pre-game warm-ups."

"He's going to be so excited! I told him I'd give him a tour before-hand. He should be here by 6:00; maybe he can take an earlier train."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few hours." He gave me another toe-curler and we finally let go of each other, grinning like fools.

By 5:00 all my patients were taken care of and all the corresponding reports were done. I left my i.d. on and headed outside and downstairs to Penn station. Joe had caught an earlier train and was waiting outside of Starbucks for me, holding a giant peppermint mocha for me. He didn't know that I was going to introduce Carlos to him and he was wearing his #25 jersey. Ha! He's going to love this so much. This would be my payment to him for a lifetime of my favorite lattes. We hugged for a second and when he pulled back and looked at me a slow knowing grin took over his face.

"Somebody got laid!" he said in an annoying sing-songy voice.

_Uh-oh_

"What? No I didn't! This is new job glow, moron. Do you remember where I work?"

"Cupcake, we've been friends for twenty-two years. There are only two things that make you look like that. Birthday cake and sex. I'm guessing that its sex this time, mainly because its way more interesting to hear about than cake. Spill it Stephanie, you didn't tell me you were dating anyone."

"I went on one date. That's it. Just a little kissing. I don't really want to talk about it yet. I want to see where it's going. I will say that I really like this guy, Joe, he's pretty amazing. Anyway, let's show you around okay? I can't tell you how much I already love working here. This is seriously the best job I've ever had!"

"Firstly I'm going to tell you I'm really happy you love it here, even if it means I'll hardly ever be able to see you anymore. Secondly, I call bullshit on the 'just a little kissing' statement. _You_ seem to forget where _I_ work Steph. I can hear a lie before the words come out of that pretty little head of yours. Thirdly, show me around this place already, I've been waiting for years to see this." He turned me around by my shoulders and marched me forward.

We walked and talked about the kindergarten teacher he had been dating. Emma was such a cool person; she was really good for him. He'd had a hit and run lifestyle before her, but I think she was the ONE for him. His mother didn't like her at first because she wasn't Italian, but when she saw settle down potential in her, Mrs. Morelli embraced her whole-heartedly.

He filled me in on how our friend Lula was doing. Lula was probably the most inspirational person I know. She'd been 'raised' if you can call it raised in a home with a non-existent dad and a drug addicted, prostitute of a mother. Lula herself had gone down that road for a while, until one of her johns brutalized her to the point that her doctors were unsure that she'd ever be able to have children. She used that awful trauma and completely turned herself around. I had met her while at school, she was attending Rutgers Newark social work program and would come into the PT department for therapy. We had gotten to talking and when we figured out we were both from Trenton, we became really good friends. She had now fully recovered and was working in Trenton as a social worker. She was also training for her third marathon. Whenever I felt overwhelmed I would look to her for inspiration. She was strong and brave and I felt honored to call her my friend. Joe told me how she had come to pick up the children that were sleeping in the room next to his crime scene yesterday. Thankfully, they hadn't witnessed anything.

We'd reached the main doors by now and I flashed my i.d. at the guard and Joe showed him his ticket. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I peeked at it.

_**I'm here babe, meet me outside the locker room in 15? –C**_

"Who's that cupcake? You look a very smiley." Joe wheedled.

"Shut up! Let's look around." I typed out an affirmative reply, and steered him towards the medical suite. He oohed and ahhed at all the appropriate places when I told him about the equipment I now had access too. He was being nice, he didn't really care about this stuff, but as I said before he's the best friend a girl could ask for, so he supported me anyway.

""C'mon I'll show you where the locker room is. You can't go in, but you can see the outside, and maybe some players will be around." He was getting excited now; there was a little bounce in his step and a big grin on his face. We walked across the hall, and there he was. I had to suppress a sigh at seeing him again. I wasn't going to lie to Joe if he figured it out, but I was trying to not be too obvious.

"Joe, this is Carlos Manoso, Carlos this is my friend Joe Morelli." They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. I had automatically stood very near Carlos and was probably looking at him like I was his devoted puppy. Joe's reaction wasn't quite what I'd thought it would be. Instead of being excited and hyper, he was quietly assessing. Looking between my face and Carlos'.

_Shit, he already knows. Perceptive little…_

_So much for keeping this quiet. _

**AN: This chapter kind of got away from me. Apparently I'm a wordy bitch. I ended it here because I wanted to do Ranger's POV on meeting Joe. **

**Doc's line in French = Oh! How original! Let's go Tiny Dancer."**

**Links in my profile if you'd like to see Steph's workout and the Rangers morning skate.**

**And thanks for all the reviews and PMs. They made me want to crank this out even though I'm supposed to be Christmas shopping, baking, wrapping etc.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: There's a wee bit of smut towards the end (hopefully you find it sweet not raunchy), if that offends you skip to very end where it's just mushy. These two seemed like they needed to go THERE already.**

**These characters belong to the amazing JE. This plot, however, is all mine.**

RPOV

It's hard to describe how it felt to meet Steph's friend. I wanted to like him, I really did. The way she spoke about him I could tell he was very important to her. I just couldn't understand any man being near her and not being attracted to her. She was sweet and quick witted, beautiful and graceful. I'd only known her for two days and was feeling things I had never felt before. I couldn't see that this Joe wouldn't want her too. He'd known her for pretty much his whole life.

Steph had stood very close to me when she introduced us and I rested my hand on her lower back. She was beaming up at me and I couldn't help but smile back at her. Her friend looked suspicious of our behavior already. I had told her I wouldn't hide things between us like there was something shameful going on, if he asked any question about us I wasn't going to lie. It was a little awkward though, he was wearing my jersey and I could tell he didn't exactly love me right at this moment. We'd have to table any serious 'what are your intentions' conversations for now. I was always the first player on the ice for warm-ups and today would be no exception.

"It was good to meet you Joe. I hope you enjoy the game. I have to get out there and get warmed up." I turned to Stephanie, "you're going home after?" she nodded "I'll call you when I'm done here."

I really wanted to kiss her right now, let him know definitively that she and I had something going on, but this wasn't the time and place. I put my gloves on and headed toward the ice, I turned back when I heard him say, "You went on a date with _him_? Holy shit cupcake! What the fuck?" He didn't sound as irate as his words implied, but still, who the fuck was he to talk to her like that? I was about to go back when Espo approached me and steered me onto the ice. He told me he'd shifted around our fourth line. Our fourth line were bruisers. Huge heavy guys whose specialty was smashing the opposition into the boards. There were some good scorers there as well, but their main objective was to act like the hulk.

Warm ups went well and before I knew it, it was game time. I had some extra aggressive energy to burn off today. I was looking forward to knocking some heads. We all sped onto the ice to the roaring of the crowd. I fucking loved my job. If you've ever been to Madison Square Garden for a game, then you know the energy that fills the arena is physically palpable. Multiply that by 1000 and you know how it feels to be on the ice and have 18000 fans screaming for you to win.

We were playing Vancouver so we had to sit through both national anthems, and finally the game was underway. When my first shift was over I hopped the low boards to sit on the bench. I looked to my right and was greeted by my baby girl waving frantically at me. She didn't come to many school night games, but she must've begged Rachel to bring her here. Rachel smiled and waved as well. I turned and looked over my shoulder and locked eyes with Steph. She wasn't kidding she really was right behind the bench. She smiled her shy smile and looked back at the ice. Right, the ice. What the fuck was wrong with me today? I jumped up for my next shift, and in the process managed to get my stick on the puck enough to pass it off to Nasher. He slid that thing right through Luongol's five hole. Hell yeah, I just got another assist. When I turned back toward the bench I saw Steph and Joe were cheering along with everyone else. Maybe he wasn't such a douchebag after all.

The rest of the game was fucking awesome. Hal was denied a shutout but we still won 4-1. Needless to say I was happy with the outcome. I had really wanted to spank this team as I'd heard they were trying to lure Espo away from us. Thankfully our GM was not a moron and had sweetened Esposito's contract at renewal time, so he stayed. We all went out onto the ice to do our celebratory skate with sticks high in the air. I started down the hallway, and fist bumped a bunch of kids that were hanging over the railing, waved to Julie, I looked right to see Steph smiling in my direction and Joe behind her, his face devoid of any definable emotion. When I got to the locker room I pulled out my phone and sent a thank you text to Rachel. I'd be picking up Julie tomorrow after school, but Rachel would call when they got home so I could say goodnight to my baby girl. It takes at least an hour to get out of here after a game because there's always a flood of reporters that we have to speak to. By the time I made it out to the car it was 11:00 and I still hadn't heard from Rachel. I was a worrier so I called her instead of waiting any longer.

"Hello?" She sounded out of breath.

"Hi, can I talk to Jules?"

"Ugh, hold on a sec." I heard her grunt like she was putting down something heavy, then, "sweetie say goodnight to Daddy."

"Hi Daddy! Your game was so much fun!" Said my sleepy little girl.

"I'm glad you had fun, baby. I want you to go straight to sleep okay? I love you and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon when I pick you up." Honestly, the worst part the divorce was not being able to tuck Julie in every night. I had the dream ex-wife though. She worked around my schedule, and I had Julie a lot more than some of my friends, they only had their children every other weekend and once during the week. I don't know how they did it.

"Okay Daddy, love you too." She handed the phone back to her mom.

"Hello? Oh my god! You would not believe how bad traffic was on the way home. We were stuck in a really smelly cab all the way here. We just got back now. Jules fell asleep on my lap, she's getting so big Carlos! Carrying her to her room was friggin hard!."

I laughed, "Thanks for bringing her, I didn't expect to see the two of you tonight."

"Oh you should have heard her going on and on about how she hasn't been to a game in a week. She knows I'm an easy mark, and she was going on about how she misses you and that she had to wait till tomorrow to see you, so I caved. It's a good thing she's a great kid Carlos or we'd be in big trouble down the line."

"Tell me about it! So I'll pick her up and take her to practice tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you know where practice is right? You have her bag?"

"Yes and yes. I can't wait to see her play!" Julie had just started in a coed hockey league. Jules in her uniform had to be the cutest damn thing I've ever seen. "I'll call you tomorrow night so you can say goodnight."

"Kay, have a good one."

"Night Ray."

I hung up and immediately called Steph.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hi, did you have fun at the game?"

"It was fantastic! You guys played so well!"

"Thanks, what are you up to?"

"I just got home a little while ago, you want to come over here or do you want to go out?"

"I'll come over, then we'll figure it out? I'm so hungry right now" I'm surprised she couldn't hear my stomach growling over the phone.

"Do you want me to order pizza or something?"

"Yeah sounds good, I'll eat anything on pizza.", she giggled

"Okay see you in a few minutes."

I hung up and tried to talk myself calm. After a big win, I was always pretty hyped up. I was so completely energized right now that I could probably run a marathon. She on the other hand, had sounded sleepy. Maybe I should let her rest? No way was that gonna happen, I wanted to see her even if it's only while we eat.

The driver dropped me outside her apartment about fifteen minutes later and she buzzed me in. I made my way up the stairs, and before I could knock on her door she pulled it open.

"Hey babe,"

"Hi..." She stared at me for a second before shaking her head and stepping aside to let me through.

"Come in."

She was right about her loft being huge. For an NYC apartment it was enormous. If this wasn't rent controlled she could easily be spending $4000 a month on this place. It was wide open and sparsely furnished, with just one couch and an end table in the living area. I could just make out her bed behind a huge bookcase that divided the room.

"So, what do you think?" She waved her hand around her home, "I need to get a little more furniture, but I love it."

"Babe, this place is great! It's almost as big as my apartment and that's a two bedroom." She laughed, and turned away to go towards the kitchen. I grabbed her hand and pulled her close, I just wanted to give her a hello kiss, but that quickly evolved into something else entirely when I felt her body so tightly against me. Her tongue slipped into my mouth and I was done. I maneuvered us to the couch and sat pulling her into my lap. I cupped her face and kissed her again. I could spend hours kissing her. She made these sweet little sighs just like I imagined she would, and every once in a while a moan would spill out. She shifted to straddle me and sank down on me. When our hips connected, I cursed. She drew in a breath and her eyes locked with me. The blue was almost completely swallowed up by pupil, I'm sure I looked equally as turned on. Christ! I wanted this woman so fucking much! She stiffened suddenly and moved to stand up.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"The bell, pizza's here. Didn't you hear it?" I really hadn't.

I laid my head on the back of the couch and tried to catch my breath. She buzzed the delivery guy in and waited by the door. I jumped up to pay for the food. But she glared at me.

"Hey, you said I could get the next time. Don't go back on your word." I held my hands up in surrender, "go ahead, sorry!" Next time I'd take her somewhere nice. It was my turn after all.

She paid the guy, shut the door and carried the pizza over to the tiny kitchen area. She reached for plates in the cabinet above her.

"Here let me," I pressed in close behind her took them down and placed them on the counter. I didn't move though, I had her caged in and she seemed to be enjoying it. I lifted her hair off her neck and ducked down to kiss her there; she sighed and leaned back into me. From my vantage point I could see straight down the front of her shirt. I was a lucky man!

"I thought you were hungry?"

"Fucking starving" I groaned into her neck.

"Well then let me put out the pizza." She said giggling. I stepped away from her reluctantly, and she plated some pizza for us. I followed her back to the couch and we dug in. I wanted to know what Joe's comments were about before, so I jumped right into it.

"So, why did your friend sound angry with you before?"

"What? Oh...he uh, he kinda figured us out and he was just expressing his opinion. He noticed that I looked very, uh…happy when we met in the train station, so I told him that I had had a date, though I didn't tell him with whom."

"And what did he say?"

"He thought that maybe...um… that you were one of those pro athletes that tries to nail anything that moves. I told him that wasn't what it was like. He's just being protective. He's been looking out for me since we were kids, it's what he does."

_Motherfucker. _

"I hope you don't think that Steph. This...thing between us is very intense. I really don't want to scare you off, but I don't know if I've ever felt this way before. This isn't going to be something casual for me." She nodded looking down.

"I hear you, I do. It's just that I need for us to take this a bit more slowly. Okay?"

I nodded, "I have my daughter for the next two days, but I'd like to see you after the game on Friday?" She nodded smiling.

"Yeah I'd like that. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know yet, I'll come up with something fun"

"You don't have to get elaborate for me Carlos. I'm not really a fancy girl"

"Babe I want to take you somewhere. We'll have a good time, we have the next day off so we don't need to worry about having to get up early the next day. Wait, you don't have to go in that day do you?" She shook her head. "Good, I'll be picking Julie up around 10:00 on Saturday. I'm going to take her to try to get our Christmas shopping done. We're going to be on the road starting in a week or so, so I don't know when else we can get that stuff done. Are they having you travel with us too?"

"Yeah, it's kind of exciting, outside of ballet competitions I never really traveled much."

"Unfortunately we mostly only see the inside of hotel rooms. I wonder where they're going to put you. We've never traveled with a woman." I'd be fucking livid if they put her in a room with Bobby and Les. I didn't like the way that fucker Les looked at her, I used to like that guy too. We'd finished eating at this point and she had turned to face me on the couch, her back resting against the arm, her knees drawn up to just under her chin. She looked relaxed and comfy. Happy in her home. I looked at her small feet, amazed that she could dance on the very tips of her toes. They weren't as scarred and messed up as you would think. I circled her ankle and drew her foot into my lap, she stretched her foot flexing it at the ball then slowly pointing the toes. As she did it I watched the way the tight muscles in her legs flexed and shifted. The definition I could make out through her tight stretchy pants was amazing to me. I moved my thumb to the high arch of her foot and applied pressure. She groaned deeply and pushed her foot further into my hand.

"Oh god!" She muttered, "no one does this for me." She flopped her head back against the arm of the couch and closed her eyes.

"Do your feet hurt?"

"Only on days that end in y. I'm so used to it that it doesn't bother me anymore." Her little moans was getting louder the more I increased the pressure. I kept her feet far away from my groin, I was definitely reacting to her proximity and her noises. I was trying to prove to her that I wasn't just after sex, but the more noise she made I couldn't help but let my hands travel farther up her legs. It occurred to me that she spent her day taking care of injured people, yet no one took care of her. I was really starting to hope that she would let me.

She sat up all of a sudden, "I should be doing this for you, you were knocking people around pretty hard today, are you sore? Oh! How's you ankle? Give me your foot I want to check it." She wiggled her fingers in my direction.

"No babe it's fine, it hasn't bothered me at all today." She moved her foot from my hand and dug her toes into my stomach.

"Give me your foot Carlos! I want to check it." She was wiggling her toes and tickling the shit out of me. I couldn't help but laugh, here was this woman that I outweighed by at least a hundred pounds and she'd found my weakness purely by accident. I grabbed her foot, but she'd caught on to my ticklishness and had gotten her fingers into the mix. She was on her knees next to me and was attacking me with both hands laughing just as much as me. I wrapped my arms around her waist and tackled her onto her back, she blew out a sigh and looked up at me. We were glued together from hips to chest and I felt that electric hum arc and deepen between us. I dipped down to kiss her, and I felt myself start to lose it. My hips were cradled by her opened thighs and I could feel the heat of her through my jeans. I rotated a my hips a little and she arched her neck back against the couch cushion and gritted her teeth. Jesus Christ! I could not wait to be inside her, not tonight, but hopefully soon. I rotated again and her eyes snapped up to mine, they were so full of need. She moaned low and long, so I did it again.

"Oh my god...Carlos." Hearing her whisper my name like that shot a lightning bolt of lust straight my cock. I kept up my movement against her, until she was saying things like "please" and "oh". My hand had worked its way under her shirt and up to the soft skin just under her breast. Her hand released it death grip on my hair and landed on top of mine on her rib cage, she slowly eased both our hands up till mine fully cupped her tit. She was the perfect size, full and soft. I rubbed my thumb over her nipple, she moaned so loudly I thought she might be close to coming. I had to feel more of her, so I trailed my hand down her firm stomach, down the outside of her hip and the side of her thigh until I got to her knee. I pushed her knee as far up against her side as possible, she was so open now. I lifted my hips from hers and moved my hand to her clothed pussy. I knew it was okay when she muttered "shit…yes" then pushed against my fingers.

_What happened to slow? Asshole_.

But _shit, _I could feel the dampness through her pants and she was so warm. We locked eyes and I watched her face as I moved my fingers over her. Her eyes rolled back and her eyelids fluttered. I could feel her stiff little clit through her clothes, and pressed down on it rhythmically. She looked desperate to come. Writhing and moaning my name, making me feel like a fucking king. Suddenly she grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled my mouth back to hers. I slipped my tongue into her mouth as she all but screamed into mine. I could feel her pussy pulsing against my hand and wished I'd had my fingers inside her when she came sobbing a few seconds later.

_Holy shit! Watching her come has to be the fucking hottest thing I've ever seen!_

Her eyes popped open and she caught me staring at her. She reached for my face and kissed me sweet and soft, she looked so sleepy now. Considering how late we were out last night and the hour right now I wasn't surprised. I was still rock hard but was carefully keeping it away from her. Slowly her hand trailed down my side and reached the waist of my jeans and I grabbed it before she could touch my dick. If that happened, we'd be in that bed with me inside her in a heartbeat, I was trying to show her that there was more to this than sex. Besides the fact that I just made her come through her clothes...right after I'd agreed to take this slow.

"Babe, you don't need to do anything here. I know you said that you want to take this slowly, but I'm having a really hard time keeping my hands off you. I'm going to go home and let you get some sleep."

"You're fucking kidding me right?" She looked at me like I was out of my mind. "Why would you think I'd be okay with that? You can't rub that monster in your pants all over me then get up and go home." She started to look really pissed now; it was making me even hornier if that was possible.

"No, Steph, no. Believe me there's nothing I'd like better than to take you over to that bed over there and fuck you senseless, but I'm trying to be a gentleman here. Granted, after what I just did to you I'm sure you're doubting that anyway, but I want you to be sure of us before we go there.

"Baby, we don't have to have sex right now, I just want to make you feel like you made me feel. Let me touch you? Please?" She gave those pouty lips of hers a little extra moue. I was beginning to realize that she held 99% of the power here…and I'm a guy, I wasn't going to make the woman I thought I was falling hard for, beg to touch my cock. I released her hand, she smiled triumphantly and she moved it back to my belt. She shifted from under me.

"Lay down Carlos." She ordered.

_Fuck me! She's so fucking sexy!_

She slowly unbuckled my belt and worked the button fly of my jeans. Between all the activity a few minutes ago and seeing her delicate hand working on my fly, I was about ready to go off before she'd even touched me. I did some deep breathing and closed my eyes to think of things that aren't remotely sexy. Grandmas bra shopping, Roseanne Barr naked, anything to stave off my coming before she even took my dick out of my boxers. My eyes flew open when she gently pushed my shirt up and grazed her nails down my stomach.

"Holy shit! Babe, come here." I pulled her down next to me, and kissed her. At the same time she pushed her tongue in my mouth I felt her soft warm fingers on me. I had to grit my teeth at the sensation of her there. It only got better when she rubbed her palm across the tip and circled me down to the base.

_This should take about thirty seconds tops._

She pumped me gently a few times, I wanted to look at her face but I couldn't take my eyes off her hand on my cock. I know I was being really loud but I couldn't seem to make myself stop. I had my hand on her ass, squeezing her roughly. If she minded she didn't say anything. She stopped suddenly and…_oh my god_…licked the palm of her hand, before grabbing me again. She increased the pace and pressure.

"Babe…unh…you're going to make…unh… me come." She sped up a little more and leaned down to graze her teeth over my nipple. That did it; I couldn't hold on anymore and came into her hand with a roar. I lay there panting for a few minutes while she kissed all over my face and neck. I hadn't come that hard in I don't even know how long.

"You okay?" She asked quietly. I still hadn't moved…or caught my breath.

"Yeah give me a minute, holy shit! I can't believe you just did that! When you said slow…"

"Look," she interrupted, "I know what I said, and I know you're worried that I'm going to think that you're only looking to get laid, but I do have a mind of my own. Just because Joe thinks something doesn't mean I'm going to agree with him. I've always been a really good judge of character. The vibe I get from you…you're a good man Carlos, you're amazingly popular, you're so talented that you are on the Olympic team and are going to the middle of Siberia to represent this country in a few months, yet you don't let that adoration go to your head. You seem to be a great dad and you've only said good things to me about you're ex. I don't think you're going to fuck me over. I wanted to make you feel good, like you did for me. And when you do 'take me over to that bed over there and fuck me senseless' I'll be giving as good as I know you'll give me. Believe me, I only do things I want to do. By slow, I meant that…I really want to know everything about you. I can feel that this is going to be serious between us…

"Besides, there was no way I would have let you walk home with that giant hard-on. No one else but me gets to see that from now on. You got it?"

_Was she for real?_

"Yeah, I got it. You're really kind of amazing, you know that right?"

"Don't ever forget it baby! Um…Carlos are you going to let go of my butt so I can get cleaned up?"

I pulled my hand away after one last quick squeeze, it really was the most fantastic ass I'd ever had my hands on.

"Sorry." I said smiling.

"Yes, I'm sure you are." She went to slap my still uncovered stomach and pulled back at the last second, thank god, her hand was still covered in my jizz. Fucking nasty. She ran to the bathroom and I buttoned my pants back up and checked the time, crap it was already 1:00 am. I had to be up before 7:00, but this was the best reason to be sleep deprived. She came back out and curled up next to me on the couch. Such a perfect fit under my arm!

"You'll let me know when you get home?" She said drowsily.

"You kicking me out?" I looked down at her face, her eyelids were drooping.

"No stay a few more minutes?" She was yawning now. I pulled her closer and she sighed contentedly, snugging her face into my neck. We stayed like that for a few minutes. When she started to lean heavier on me, I bent to kiss her forehead and say goodbye and saw that she had actually fallen asleep. If I didn't move now, I'd probably pass out right along with her. I slid my other arm under her knees and carried her over to her bed and managed to get her under the blankets.

I gazed at her for a minute. She really was stunningly beautiful, long lashes reaching all the way to her smooth pink cheeks. Full lips, puckered slightly even now. Just looking at her got my heart pounding, and I was pretty sure I knew why.

_Man was I ever in trouble with this woman!_

**AN.2: I feel like a recently de-virginized teen when I say this, but how was that for you? Let me know? Hint* reviews will keep me writing next week when my munchkins are home from school, I feel like a creeper writing lovin' when they're home.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: For all of the readers told me to write even if the kids were home, this is for you. Also, if this is too sappy, you can blame them for that too. My monkeys were watching sentimental Christmas movies while I was writing! There's some smut down there so skip over where they start taking each other's clothes off and go to the very, very end if you don't like that. This will probably be my last smut alert as these two seem to be horny bitches and are having a hard time moving this story along without gettin' some.**

**The amazing Janet Evanovich owns these characters, but this plot is all mine.**

**Merry Christmas everyone.**

SPOV

The rest of the week flew by in a flurry of texts, long, late night calls and quick five minute chats at work. We didn't have one single second alone, not one stinking little second, no quick kisses, touches, nothing. Wednesday and Thursday he had to leave early to pick up Julie, he'd asked me to come over on Thursday night, but I'd had to work late and Julie was already sleeping by the time I'd gotten home. I didn't want her to meet me for the first time while I was doing something inappropriate to her insanely hot father if she got up to pee or get a glass of water or something. Every time I thought we could squeeze in a minute alone, with my damn office door closed. Someone needed one or both of us. The more I got to know the crew though, the more I thought that we didn't really need to keep this quiet. That was item number one that I wanted to discuss Friday night.

Wherever we ended up going on our date, Carlos was being quiet about where we were going. My only stipulation was that it wouldn't be fancy. I wasn't kidding him when I said that, I liked dressing up as much as the next girl, but after spending roughly 15 hours at the Garden, I knew I'd want quiet and relaxing. I just wanted to spend time with him to talk and well, get my hands on him and his on me. Holy shit did that man know how to touch me! The memory had been giving me goose bumps and hot flashes all week. Not just from him giving me my first non-solo orgasm in at least a year, but touching his god-like body...and the way he responded to me! You couldn't fake that.

Friday's game had been a shut-out. They'd played the Devils, who were having their worst season ever. My boys barely even had to try. As soon as the buzzer signaled the end of the game I hit the ground running. I had plenty of time to run home, shower and change. Carlos was going to clean up at the arena and pick me up at home in about an hour. I sped through my toilette and was just pulling my boots on when the bell rang. He must have flown up the stairs because he was knocking on my door less than thirty seconds after I buzzed him in. I opened the door only to be grabbed around the waist and pushed against my foyer wall, suddenly his mouth was on mine and his hands were splayed high on my ribs. I could feel every inch of him; he was pressed so tightly against me. Every. Fucking. Inch.

I don't know what I've done to deserve this man, but holy moly did he set me on fire every time he touched me. He finally broke our kiss only to lean his forehead on mine. Breaking heavy he rasped, "Hey, babe. I kinda missed you." I burst out laughing.

"You 'kinda' missed me? I just had to check that I was still dressed after that kiss! I 'kinda' missed you too Captain." I pulled his mouth back to mine. I really could spend all night kissing him. He eventually backed away and said, "C'mon babe, let's get out of here. I've got something pretty awesome to show you after dinner. Do you have a heavier jacket?" He asked nodding in the direction of the light leather jacket in my hand.

"No, I really need to get a new one and I haven't had time to go shopping, I've been meaning to, but with the move and everything..." I shrugged, "Why? Did it get a lot colder out?"

"You might get cold where we're going. You'll see. I think I have something in the car. You hungry?" I nodded. "I'm starving, let's go" he grabbed my hand and tugged me down the stairs with the exuberance of a little boy about to show someone his favorite thing ever.

I gaped when I realized that he'd actually scored a parking spot for his beautiful SUV in front of my building. What the hell? I'd lived here for a month and hadn't even managed to park within two blocks yet!

"Maybe we should take my car? This spot is so amazing; it seems a shame to move it!"

He laughed, "We'll find another. We definitely need the SUV for tonight's agenda." He beeped it unlocked and opened my door for me, giving me a quick kiss before closing the door. He hurried around, hopped in and we took off. It took a minute for the delicious smells in the car to hit me, but when they did! Holy crap I couldn't wait to eat, I turned to look for the source. In the low light I could make out a pretty picnic basket in the back seat.

"Picnic? No wonder you wanted me to wear a heavier coat." It wasn't frigid out, but sitting outside wouldn't be fun for long, well maybe if we cuddled it would be alright. I was actually glad we weren't going to a restaurant. I wasn't in the mood to be with anyone but him tonight.

He just smiled mysteriously and kept driving. Wait a minute; we were going over the Brooklyn Bridge. I was pretty sure I knew where we were going, during our marathon phone calls this week I'd told him how, growing up I'd always loved seeing the NY skyline from any vantage point. He had told me about the Brooklyn promenade and what a great view it had. I'd never been, but thought it sounded fantastic, especially at night. With each twist and turn he took his smile grew exponentially, by the time we parked he was sporting the full on grin. He jumped out to get my door and tugged me out of the car. He was practically buzzing with excitement. I'd noticed that he was all keyed up after Tuesday's game as well, like he hadn't gotten all the energy out on the ice. He grabbed the basket and a blanket from the back and popped the trunk door I'd followed him to the back and realized he'd backed into the spot for a reason. Holy crap! The view of lower Manhattan was fucking amazing! Millions of lights were blazing from across the river. You were close enough that you could see details, but far enough that you could appreciate the grandeur. I was so absorbed by the spectacle that Carlos surprised me when he eased a zippered hoodie over my shoulders. I looked down as he zipped it up and saw it was his team sweatshirt, he usually wore it to the practice arena. That brought a big smile to my face. He leaned in and whispered, "You look good with my name on your back babe." He planted a lingering kiss just under my ear that had me warming up.

"Get in the back and have a seat. Dinner's getting cold."

"Where did you get all this? It smells amazing!"

"It's from this little place right by my apartment. I eat there all the time. If you like this, I'll take you sometime, next week?"

"I'd like that."

I hopped onto the blanket covered cargo area of his Cayenne and we started opening packages. Soup and crusty bread and a pasta dish that had me salivating before I'd even taken my first bite. It was all amazing.

"Oh my god Carlos! I can't wait to go to this restaurant, this is all so good!"

"I'm glad you like it. I would have brought wine, but they didn't have any there and I had none at home. I don't drink during the season; I can't afford to be dehydrated. I'm sorry."

"Believe me captain; the way to my heart is definitely through my stomach. I'm not much of a drinker anyway, so you picked correctly on the food over alcohol." He laughed and pulled out one more container, then pulled me closer to him.

"I don't eat a lot of sugar during the season either but I thought you might like their chocolate mousse cake." He said as he dug around the basket and produced a fork. He proceeded to feed me the cake one forkful at a time, alternating kisses with each bite. He tasted even better than the cake...way better. We stayed like that for a while, in our own soft little bubble. We ended up with my back to his front and me sitting between his long legs and holding both his hands in mine, just enjoying some peace and watching the city across the river.

"Do you want to walk the promenade? It's not a long walk, but really nice. I think you'll like it." I looked up at him and nodded. I didn't really want to leave his arms, but I didn't want to miss seeing this. We walked with our arms around each other and talked quietly. I realized that somewhere in the last three days, that nervousness I'd initially felt at being near him had morphed into a deep awareness of his presence. Like I could feel him on the inside. It was no longer shocking but more...just right.

We discussed how things would go at work if we told anyone. We decided that as long as we weren't overly demonstrative, that it would probably be okay. We'd do things like go out to lunch together, but keep the touching to a minimum. Road trips would be dicey, but we'd keep a bit of distance there too, and no one would have cause to complain about it.

We'd stopped at the railing dividing the river and promenade. He pressed in closely behind me and rested his chin on my head. We just watched the city quietly. I was so cocooned in him that all I could hear was his quiet breathing and the steady beat of his heart. This right here was heaven. I was also feeling some very serious things here, things I wasn't at all ready to put a name to.

"Are you ready to head back babe?" I turned and burrowed into his chest.

"Not really." I said through a yawn. He chuckled and tugged me back to the car.

We made it back to my place in no time, only there was absolutely nowhere to park. We looked everywhere.

"If you want, you could come see my place? I'll just park there and I'll walk you home in a while. I'm not ready to drop you off yet"

_Oh let me think about that for a second. Hell yeah. _

"I'd like that, yeah."

He drove the two blocks to his building and pulled into the garage. He parked and we headed to the elevator. We got out on the seventh floor and stopped in front of 701. When we walked in I was struck by how gorgeously decorated it was. Not that I expected tacky man cave crap to be all over the walls, but this was beautiful. There was one whole wall very nearly covered with black and white photos of Julie from birth on up. Either Carlos or his ex was an amazing photographer. They were all candid shots of her smiling, laughing, running, looking a bit petulant with hands on hips. It was a beautiful tribute to a fathers love for his baby girl.

"Did you pick all this out? It's gorgeous!" He laughed and shook his head, "Hell no, I suck at that stuff! I hired a decorator. The firm did Julie's room as well, I felt so guilty about moving out that I may have gone overboard. Do you want to see?"

"No, I don't think she'd like that. Maybe after I meet her? Let her show me if she wants?"

"Sure babe. You want some coffee?"

"Oh yes please!" I could really use some right about now. We went into his kitchen and just like the rest of the place it was really nice, granite and stainless steel and lit up glass fronted cabinets. He got the coffee going and pulled me into him.

"Hi." He whispered.

"Hi." I whispered back. Then he kissed me softly once, twice and on the third time I held his mouth to mine and deepened it. He sat me on the counter and I felt his hands slip under my shirt, and what felt like liquid fire flash through me. I might have moaned into his open mouth a bit. I really don't know how we could go from soft and sweet to hot and really fucking horny in a beat like that, but we were at his house and I knew his bed was nearby, and all I wanted to do right now was to see it. Well actually, I wanted to get him naked so I could lick him all over, but it would sound more innocent if I asked to see his room, right? Asking 'Carlos please take me to your room and fuck me' might sound a little brazen, no?

His lips were working their way down my neck and his hands were working their way up from my waist, he whispered, "You feel so good babe, how are you so soft?"

"Carlos take me to your room and..."_Shit! I wasn't supposed to say that _"um…show me your room." He froze and looked me in the eye, looking a little startled.

"Um...yeah." He shook his head a little. "Yeah come on." I slid from the counter on slightly wobbly legs and followed him down a short hallway to an open doorway. He flicked on the light and I fell in love. With his room. He had a huge bed with a big pile of pillows in shades of blue and white, the same colors were echoed around the room. It was so calm and comfortable in here. There was a very comfy looking chair by the window next to a fully stocked bookshelf. Jeez that made him even sexier! All those books! But it was what was going on through the huge window that really drew my attention. You could see straight across the Hudson River to Hoboken. It was a more demure view than that of Manhattan from Brooklyn, but it was soothing, just like his place, during the day he must've had a great view of all the ferries buzzing back and forth. He moved in behind me and we mirrored our position from earlier at the waterfront.

"So what do you think?" His voice was rough, like he was still affected from our kitchen escapades. He had his hands splayed on my stomach and he was close enough that I could feel his erection against my back. I pushed back into him.

"If you knew what having you in here was doing to me, you'd probably run screaming all the way home."

"I don't think so captain, why do you think I asked to see your room?" It took him a second to catch my meaning, but he got it and bent to kiss me. Hard. He walked me backwards to the bed and gently pushed me down to sit on the edge. He reached for a remote and the curtains swished shut. I felt my eyebrow hike up, "Seriously? Remote controlled curtains?"

"Decorator, not me." Then he shut me up by crawling over me, making me lay back. He quickly latched onto my mouth and simultaneously half dragged me up till my head was on the pile of pillows.

"Babe, you're going to have to tell me exactly what I can do to you right now. Because my mind's going a mile a minute. You said that you wanted slow, but now you're in my bed, and I really don't want to let you out of it, ever." He punctuated his last sentence with a grind of his hips against mine. God! He was so fucking sexy. Like, I'm going to die if I don't have sex with him right now, kind of sexy. I pushed against his chest, he looked upset that I was putting distance between us, but moved back anyway. I left my hand on his chest as I spoke.

"Carlos, I'm so sorry I ever said I wanted to take this slow, I mean I said it and three minutes later I gave you a hand job on my couch." He smiled big at that. "I've realized that none of that 'getting to know you' stuff matters with you. This is _big_ between us right?"

"It sure feels that way." He said softly.

"I think so too. I want to be with you, here, now. Is that clear enough for yo..." He cut me off by attacking my mouth again.

He maneuvered me into his lap straddling him. He really seemed to like this position. A lot. We had taken our jackets off when we came in. All that was between his spank bank worthy body and me was one thin long sleeved shirt. I was trying to get it off him without letting go of his lips when he moved away to reach back with one hand and yank the shirt over his head.

_I'm fucking melting right now, I swear it! _

He went to pull me back to him, and I stopped him, again with a hand to the chest.

"Wait, just let me look...jeez, you really are beautiful Carlos." I mean how can a person actually look like this.

"Steph, men are_ not _beautiful. Women are beautiful, _you _are incredibly beautiful." He said sounding somewhat affronted

"Okay, first, awwwwww that was very sweet and pretty slick." He grinned. "Second, shut the hell up, lie back and let me drool over you." He laughed and reclined slowly. I was a little hypnotized watching his muscles contract as he lay back.

"Hot damn! I'm a lucky bitch." He laughed louder. I ran my fingers over his perfect, deep caramel colored, smooth skin, oops! There was a puck shaped scar just on his side just under the sixth rib, I spent a second kissing it better, making him squirm a bit.

"Did this fracture the rib? I don't remember anything about this in your records."

"No it just hurt like a bitch, bled until they glued it up. That was a long time ago, college I think, I forgot it was even there."

I moved my hands back to his chest, if I ran my fingernails over his skin I noticed that it would pebble. When I ran them close to his nipple, he'd moan quietly and it would draw up really tightly. I tested to see if his reaction the other night was an aberration and grazed my teeth over the hardened point. He growled and tightened his grip on my hips. I flicked my tongue over it and watched his jaw clench.

_Hmm…good to know._

I moved my mouth down to his abs, letting my hands trail over the gorgeously defined muscles. I discovered his happy trail leading into his pants. That sparse smattering of hair...it actually made my mouth water. I went to undo his pants, he stilled my hands the flipped us over.

"Not yet, babe, I want to see more of you. We have all night right?"

_All Night? _

He sat back on his knees and gently pulled my shirt up and off. He just stared at me, mouth opened slightly and eyes black. I guessed he liked what he saw. At a full b cup I was pretty small by most standards. As a ballerina I was pretty much Dolly Parton. His scrutiny was making me feel a bit self-conscious, I moved my arms to cover up and he batted them back down.

"No please don't hide from me babe, you're so fucking gorgeous, you know that right?"

"Thank you." How else do you respond to that? From this point forward I don't think I ever care again what _anybody_ but him thought of my appearance.

"I'm not kidding here Steph. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I think that might have been my first thought when I saw you at the rink. And I've thought it every single time I've seen you since."

Okay now he's got me into this horny, mushy ball of goo.

I sat up fully and moved my hands to unhook my bra and slid the straps down and off. He groaned low and moved back over me supporting himself on his elbows. He kissed me again, deep and really fucking intense. I could feel it all the way down to my toes. He settled between my legs and I wrapped them around him locking my ankles around his waist. The noises he was making into my mouth were driving me fucking crazy. He'd started that grinding that had set me on fire on Tuesday. He would've made me come just like that, but when he put his fingers on me, even through my clothes, I'd felt like I was going to explode.

He pulled back again and had my jeans halfway down my legs before I'd realized that he had them unzipped. He pulled them the rest the way off and I was supremely glad that I'd done a thorough shaving job before he picked me up. I reached for his pants, but he dodged me and said, "No babe these need to stay on for right now. He dropped my pants over the side of the bed and hooked two fingers in the sides of my undies. He looked at me questioningly; I drew in a deep breath and nodded. He slowly dragged them down until I was fully nude underneath him. After his earlier compliments I didn't feel awkward, now, I felt powerful. This wonderfully perfect man was looking at me naked before him with adoration and lust.

He laid down beside me and ran his fingers from my hip over my belly and between my breasts, up my chin to my lips. I parted them and flicked my tongue over the tip of the index finger that was pressing on my lower lip. He inhaled sharply and pulled it away before I could suck it into my mouth. He trailed that finger down to my breast again and circled the nipple. We both watched it pucker before he took it between his lips and gently nibbled. I couldn't keep my heavy eyelids open after that and I arched back to give him more of me.

He was very clever with his tongue, and for the first time in my life thought I might actually come just from this. His fingers were busy with the other one and I was making an awful lot of noise. I couldn't really bring myself to care though. I took the hand that was gently teasing my nipple and moved it down till he reached my pussy.

"Please Carlos, just touch me."

He growled and moved his still clothed cock against my hip. When his fingers slid around my wet skin, he inhaled sharply and moved his mouth away from my poor tortured breast.

"Is this for me babe?" I nodded, "Jesus you're so fucking wet!" I could feel it but I was also aching, needing him to touch me. I cried out when his finger found and circled my clit, he moved it down to my entrance and pushed just the tip in, his thumb moved to my clit and then I lost all track of his movements. My head was thrown back and all I knew was that he was shoving me toward an orgasm that felt like it might make me black out, there were fingers inside me and some delicious movement against my clit. He was muttering things like "I can't wait to be inside you." And "So fucking tight." Suddenly he shifted and his thumb was replaced by his tongue. He circled my clit, then sucked it into his mouth and I screamed..._holy shit!..._I came so fucking hard. By the time I came back to myself, he'd made his way back up to my face. Okay, it was kind of embarrassing that I could see myself glistening on his mouth. I went to wipe it off but he pinned my hand to the bed and leaned down to shove his tongue in my mouth. To my surprise I didn't hate the taste of myself on his lips and tongue. I didn't love it, but combined with his flavor, I could handle it. The least I could do is kiss the man that just made me come so hard I'd lost time for a bit there. I wasn't waiting any longer and my hand flew to his fly and yanked the buttons open. I already had my hand around his thick cock when I told him roll over, but no way was I letting go. He wouldn't let me touch his beautiful dick before, I wasn't letting go now. Now, I'm of the opinion that penises, in general, are not attractive. They're veiny and oddly shaped and come in all sizes. Carlos' dick on the other hand, was as perfect as the rest of him. It was thick, so much so that my fingers didn't quite reach all the way around it. It was long enough that I had to worry about logistics. How was something that big going to fit inside little old me? He rolled to his side and reached into the nightstand and came out with a small box of Trojans. I raised an eyebrow at that to which he looked sheepish, well if you can really look sheepish when your dick is in someone's hand.

"I bought them yesterday, I didn't think this would happen now, I just thought that maybe someday...unh". He cut off abruptly when I took him in my mouth and sucked lightly. His hands flew to my hair.

"Steph you have to stop, please? You're going to make me come too quick. I really need to be inside you when that happens. Please?" He tugged gently and I released his thick head with a pop. I smiled up at him, he sent me such a panty melter in return that was glad he'd already taken mine off me. He struggled with the box of condoms for a second but managed to get one out and handed it to me.

"Put it on me babe, now." Oh! I liked that little bit of authority in his voice. I ripped open the gold foil and slowly rolled it down him. He hissed a bit, but kept himself together.

"Sit on me babe. Ride me."

_Holy shit, is it possible to orgasm when no one's actually touching you? _

He made me feel like I was going to burst into flames from his words alone.

I threw my leg over him while he held his cock upright. I felt his head at my entrance and slowly, so fucking slowly felt him stretch me open. It seemed I no longer had control of my neck muscles as my head flopped backwards. He held both my hand in his as I started to move.

_So fucking full!_

He quickly sat up and put my hands on his shoulders so he could free his up to put them on my ass. He didn't try to make me move any other way than I already was, in fact he was groaning in my ear and muttering some very dirty things interspersed with some of the sweetest things I've ever heard while fucking, making-love, whatever you wanted to call this. It was definitely a hybrid of the two. We were sliding against each other and he was so fucking deep inside me, he was everywhere. When I looked into his eyes, the tenderness mixed with intensity I found there, nearly brought tears to my eyes. I kept thinking the L word, but was absolutely not ready to say it yet. I don't know how you can fall in L word with someone in 5 days, but I think I'd managed it. He brought his hand between us and started rubbing tiny circles in that magic spot. My orgasm this time was less vocal but even stronger than the first one. So much so that he had to lift me off him and lay me down. He laid on top of me and looked me right in the eye as he entered me again. He was being gentle, letting me recover, but I really needed to see him let go. I had a feeling I knew what would make him lose it.

"Carlos please fuck me! Harder! please!?" Yep that did it. He really started pounding me then. Jesus, this man was a machine. I'd never had a hard time coming to orgasm, but the way he was moving inside me, hitting a place that was making my toes fucking curl. If he kept that up I'd be coming again, in like a minute. He grabbed me under the knees and sat back pulling my hips up into his lap, but leaving my head on the bed. His thumb hit my clit again, and he slammed into me two, three more times and had me coming again. He roared as he came with me. I could actually feel him pulsing deep inside me. He took a minute to recover before gently extracting himself from me with a groan. "Hold on babe I'll be right back okay?" He kissed me gently then headed to the bathroom through an adjoining door. I'm not ashamed to say that I watched his perfect ass the whole way there. I was dating a god. There was no other explanation for it. I heard the faucet go on and off and the he was back walking towards me. The front view was even nicer than the back, even though he was calm now, he was still impressive. The only part of me that had moved yet was my eyes. I was still splayed in the middle of his bed. He grinned when he noticed.

"Did I tire you out babe?" He really had done so I couldn't begrudge him his ego trip in so thoroughly fucking me. "It's 2am babe. Can you stay the night?"

"Yeah, I'd like that, just help me up so I can go to the bathroom." He pulled me up and I stood on very wobbly legs. He slapped my bare ass once I was standing, not hard, but enough to show me he wasn't really all that tired yet. I'd have to increase my workout if I was going to keep up with him. Friggin never ending stamina of pro athletes.

I took care of what I needed to and washed my hands. I looked around for a towel or a robe to go back to bed in, but decided that was just stupid. He'd just saw about all there was to see of me.

I paused in the doorway, confronted with an image that made me question exactly how sleepy I was. He was sitting back against the pillows. The sheet was precariously low on his abs and it looked like he was reacting to my presence too.

"Come back to bed babe."

_Yes please!_


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season! **

**These characters were created by the amazing JE, but this plot is all mine. **

**I issued a blanket smut alert in the last chapter, consider yourself warned.**

**Let's see what the families think…**

RPOV

Friday night and very early Saturday morning was a blur of 1 hour pockets of sleep and long sessions of the most intense, mind melting sex I've ever had. I was actually sore by the time we pried ourselves away from each other at around 9 Saturday morning. We were laying with her back snuggled tightly to my front and despite my tiredness I could feel my dick take notice of the fact that he was only about 3 inches away from his new nirvana.

"Carlos, I swear to god, if you don't get that thing away from my poor bruised vagina, I'm going to kick you in the nuts." She grumbled in her sleepy, raspy voice

"You weren't calling it 'that thing' last night. It was more like, 'Oh god, Carlos, fuck me harder'"

"Yeah well that was then, now it feels like you repeatedly rammed a small tree trunk up there. I'm not sure I can even get out of bed." She really cracked me up, the whole time she was bitching about being sore, she was rubbing against me and I could feel that she was getting wet again.

"Do you want to join me in the shower babe? I'm picking Julie up at 10 to go Christmas shopping, but would you want to meet us here for dinner?" I really wanted Steph to meet my baby; I thought they'd get along pretty well.

"Yes on the shower, but only if you let me sit on that shower bench in there. I can't on dinner, though I would much rather do that, I have to head down to my parents. If I don't go home once a week my mother concocts all kinds of scenarios in her head. I'm sick and dying, I'm wasting away because I'm not eating her cooking, I'm secretly pregnant and hiding it from her. She's a nut, but she's my mom and she makes a kick-ass dessert, so I deal. I'd invite the two of you but I think it might be a bit much for Julie to meet the whole clan."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Some of the shit you've told me about your Grandma..." I trailed off so as not to offend Steph's favorite family member. "Will Joe be there?" I tried to keep my voice level when I asked that, I had no right being jealous of him. They'd been friends for twenty years, and we'd only known each other a week. Yet, there it was anyway. It was hard not to be a jealous asshole. Steph is the kind of strong willed, confident woman who didn't tolerate that shit, it was difficult, but I was trying.

"Probably, he usually stops over with Emma." She still sounded half asleep, but she was slowly moving to the edge of the bed. I hopped up and pulled her with me. I had a special shower that I hoped would make her feel better. I'd had it installed to help with muscle soreness from playing. As much as I felt bad for hurting her, I felt a tiny bit proud of getting this very agile, strong woman in this groaning, limping state. God! Sometimes I am such a dick.

I turned on the hot water and she followed me into the large stall. I hit the controls for the other 6 shower heads mounted on the walls and she let out a surprised shriek and laughed. It took some time to get used to the deluge of high pressure water but when it made her muscles loosen up, she'd love it.

"Oh my god that feels fantastic! How do you ever leave this shower?" She moaned.

"It's difficult most days. I'd feel bad about using all this water, but I had this really cool new water recycling system installed and now I get to be virtuous and a glutton at the same time."

She'd sat on the bench under the waterfall head and relaxed her head back into the flow. She was so fucking beautiful right now, sexy and lush. She had a pretty glow to her face and despite her obvious soreness, her limbs looked relaxed. I grabbed the shower gel and started to soap myself. Her eyes popped open and she watched my every move, eyes wide, lips slightly parted. I could feel myself go from semi to completely hard under her gaze.

"Come here." She said standing up and beckoning me over to her. "Bring the soap." I did as she said and handed it to her, "turn around baby." She sounded so fucking sexy right now; I'd do anything she said. She started rubbing the soap into my shoulders and Christ, did it feel good. I put both hands on the wall and let her work on my back. She massaged her way down and was at the top of my ass when her hands slipped around to the front and grabbed my cock. She pumped me a few times before turning me around again and pushing me into the water to rinse off. She sat down again and tugged my hands till I was right in front of her.

_Oh god! If she's going to do what I think she's going to do, it'll be over embarrassingly quick. _

"Babe?" I looked down at her just as she licked the tip.

_Shit!_

She took me in before I could formulate an objection. I was completely at her mercy as she worked me over. She licked and sucked and pumped me till I was a cursing moaning mess. I was trying to behave and not force her to take more of me in. I never thought the sound of a woman gagging on me was sexy in any way. I touched her cheek and she moaned around me. My thumb moved to the corner of her bottom lip and the feeling of her moaning on me and the slide of lips around me set me off.

"Steph I'm going to come." I managed to groan out, she sucked harder and I couldn't hold off anymore and came hard in her mouth. She swallowed it all down and slowly released me. I fell to my knees and kissed her hard. Holy shit! I hadn't gotten head like that in...ever. I can't believe I'd stopped her last night! I kissed down her neck to her perfect tits; I'd noticed how much she'd loved that last night. I busied myself with repaying the favor and by the time we stumbled out of the shower I had about 15 minutes to get dressed, drop Steph off and pick up Julie. Rushed or not, I took the time to watch her dress. She'd foregone the pretty panties she'd worn last night, a fact I found completely enthralling. She was putting on her boots when she caught me staring.

"What?" she asked. I shook my head to clear it.

"Nothing, when are you heading to your parents?"

"I'll drive down, so I figure I'll leave around 4:00. I'm going to go home now to eat and nap for a while."

"Julie will be here through Monday morning; do you want to have dinner with us tomorrow?"

"Yeah I'd like that. I'm meeting some friends from the ballet company for lunch tomorrow after class, but then I'll be free. Do you have to train tomorrow?"

"Yeah in the morning, but I'll be back by 3 at the latest. Can you be here at 6?"

"Sure." We'd made it to my car by this point. We jumped in and headed to her place. I pulled up outside and ran around to get her door. This just sucked; I really didn't want to drop her off. She gave me a kiss and said, "Have fun with Julie, Captain. Talk to you later?"

"Yeah, call me when you get home."

"Okay, bye." She yanked me down to kiss me a little more thoroughly and disappeared into her building. And I left to pick up my little girl.

I had a key to Rachel's but it felt incredibly awkward to use it now I didn't live there anymore, so I knocked and waited. Ray opened the door and smiled at me. "So, how did the date go?" She asked slyly. I'd told her about Steph when we'd spoken the other day. I wanted to know how she thought Julie would react to me having a girlfriend. I couldn't help the smile that took over my face now. "Really? That good huh? you dirty slut you!" she said with an eyebrow raised.

"I didn't say anything!" I protested.

"You didn't need to; you forget how well I know you. There's fresh coffee on, go have some. I have to go get changed." She went to go and turned back, "I'm happy for you Carlos, I really am. You deserve to be this happy." She gave me a half-hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then sauntered off to get ready for her day.

Standing there in the kitchen, coffee cup in hand staring blindly out the window, my mind refused to stop the flow of images from last night and this morning from flashing in my head. I ran a hand over my face to try to dispel them, but it was only made worse when I caught a tiny whiff of Steph on my hand. This prompted a sensory flashback so intense I felt like I could still taste her on my tongue. I have no idea why, but I was texting her that very information before I realized what I was doing.

_**I can still taste you-C**_

She followed that with, _**And I can still feel you inside me. **__Holy. Fucking. Shit! __**You're not driving right now are you?-S**_

No, thank god! I probably would've crashed the car when I read that! I tried to think of something to make my hard on deflate, but she must have sucked my brains out through my dick in the shower earlier because the only thing the stupid thing was offering up for calming visions, were different images of Steph. Her riding me, her underneath me, her on her hands and knees and finally her going down on me. I begged her to distract me, I didn't think that Julie or I would make it through the trauma if she came out here and saw me like this. Instead of helping me out, my beautiful girlfriend decided to tease me.

_**Did I tell you how much I loved going down on you this morning? You were so fucking sexy-S **_

She might not be quite the angelic sweetheart I thought she was.

Ray came into the kitchen and looked me over before breaking out the big smile. I sent Steph a distress message and she fired back a mental image so nasty that I went soft with all the rapidity of a popped balloon, and not a moment too soon.

"Daddy!" Julie yelled as she ran and jumped into my arms. She was getting a bit big for this now, but I'd take all the affection I could get from her before she was a teenager and was asking to be dropped off two blocks from school. She hugged me tight around neck then wiggled to get down. I released her, sent Steph one last message and we headed out.

"So, how was school yesterday?" most kids would respond with 'fine', not my girl though. This was an open ended question for her and would keep her talking for at least an hour.

"Me and Maria Santiago became best friends, do you remember her? She has two daddies! Isn't that the coolest thing ever? They live really close and I have a play date there on Monday. I'm so excited."

"Wow baby that sounds like fun, have you been there before? Are her daddies nice?" She nodded her head vigorously. Her room is almost as nice as my room..."

She kept up the stream of chatter all the way uptown and into the parking lot we chose. We decided on what stores to hit up, but Jules insisted on seeing the tree at Rockefeller center first. It was so crowded; I ended up picking her up, and putting her on my shoulders. I was recognized by a few people, but they just waved and left us to our shopping. I actually liked interacting with fans, but when I was with my daughter I preferred to keep a low profile. We had taken care of presents for pretty much everyone, my brothers and sisters and their kids, my parents, and Rachel. We were wandering around Barney's chatting away; I was watching to see if Julie showed any particular interest in something so I could pick it up for her later. We passed by women's coats and I thought of Steph, she really did need one. It wasn't too soon to give her something was it? Especially something she needed. I found a coat I thought would look good, it was bright red and looked like it would be warm. I held it up to get a better look.

"Daddy, who's that for?"

"It's for my friend Stephanie, what do you think baby?" I held my breath for her reply. She'd been okay with Rachel and Ron dating, but I hadn't introduced her to anyone I was seeing yet and I was worried she might get upset.

"It's pretty. Is she your girlfriend?" Julie asked quietly.

"She is." I said nodding.

"Is she coming over today?"

"No baby it's just me and you tonight. She's going to come over tomorrow though. Would you like to meet her?"

Julie nodded, "is she nice?"

"She's very nice. She's smart and pretty and I think you're going to like her. And guess what else?"

"What?" I was hoping this next part would get her to perk up, she didn't look very excited.

"Steph is a ballerina."

Julie's eyes got round. "Really? that's so cool! Can I see her dance?" She'd been asking to start dance classes lately. Rachel and I had talked about getting her started when the hockey season was over

"I don't know baby, you'll have to ask her. She doesn't dance on stage anymore, I don't think, but I've seen her practice and she's really good. So, should we get her this?" I asked, holding the coat up.

"Yep, let's get that one dad. Can I give it to her?"

"Sure, do you want to have it wrapped up?" She was looking a bit more enthusiastic now.

"Yeah can we see if they have a red bow to match the coat?"

"Sounds nice, let's go". I took her by the hand and went to pay for it; I picked up a hat, scarf and glove set for her as well. I just hoped she liked it.

We had a quiet night in and she was out cold by 9:00. Steph called soon after to let me know she was home. We talked for a little while, but the night before was taking a toll and I couldn't stop yawning. She told me to get my sleepy butt in bed and she'd see me tomorrow.

On Sunday Julie went with me to the training center and she spent some time on the ice with me and the team before we got to work. She was shaping up to be a better skater than I ever was. By the time we got home she was practically buzzing with excitement about Steph coming over. She was definitely ready to meet my Babe.

SPOV

I sighed as I shut the door behind me. After that glorious shower I was just a bit deliciously sore, not the hobbling mess I'd been when I finally managed to crawl out of my Carlos' bed. Yeah that's right! _My _Carlos. I figured sleeping with him after only our second date gave me some proprietary rights, because he certainly owned me after last night, and this morning, and again in the shower. I made my way over to feed Rex,

"Good morning Rex! Did you run all night? Are you hungry? I'm so sorry you have such an awful slut for a mother. I can't believe I had sex on the second date, but you saw him right? Ugh, and he's so amazing and kind and gentle, but when he's playing he's really tough and...so fucking sexy. I couldn't help it okay!" He just gave me his little beady eyed stare. Was he judging me? Probably he was just waiting for the food to fall from the sky...right? I fed him a grape and a carrot and flopped on my bed, bouncing back up when I realized I still had on last night's clothes. I changed into a tee- shirt and crawled under the covers. When I went to set the alarm on my phone, it buzzed in my hand with a text from Carlos.

_**I can still taste you-C**_

Holy shit! It felt like my face just burst into flames. I'd found out he had a dirty mouth last night, but gah!

So I replied, _**And I can still feel you inside me. You're not driving right now right?-S**_

30 seconds later came _**Waiting for Jules. Not driving. Say something disgusting, she can't see me like this.-C**_

Should I play with him? Hmmmmm.

_**Did I tell you how much I loved going down on you this morning? You were so fucking sexy-S **_

_Ha! Take that Captain._

_**Babe! She'll be out of the bathroom any second and Rachel's looking at me funny please, don't.-C**_

Fuck that! I don't care if she used to be married to him; she wasn't allowed to see him like _that _anymore.

_**Think hairy-backed, beer-bellied guy at the beach...in a speedo.-S **_

A few seconds later he sent back,

_**That took care of it. Thanks babe. Jules is ready. I'll talk to you later.-C**_

_**Anytime Captain, have fun today-S**_

I giggled and burrowed under the blankets, passing out almost immediately.

I woke at just after noon feeling much better. I did a quick workout and showered. After running some errands, I headed to my parents early. I couldn't resist stopping at the Ikea on the turnpike and arranged to have a table and chairs and a few other things delivered to my house tomorrow, it was kind of embarrassing looking around Carlos' apartment and realizing mine looked like a college student lived there. Feeling accomplished, I parked in front of my parents' house. I took a fortifying breath and went inside. The house smelled amazing as always, I hadn't eaten anything much today and I was suddenly ravenous.

"Hey dad!" He was in his chair in front of the TV when I came in.

"Hi baby, how was your first week?"

"Amazing, I love it so much! I have tickets for you and Joe for Monday night. I have to be on the bench with the trainer."

"I'm so friggin happy you got this job Steph, and this feels like it's going to be a Stanley Cup year."

"I think so too, they're all playing so well right now. I hope the break for the Olympics doesn't mess them up."

"Stephanie!" My mother yelled from the kitchen. "Is that you? Come in here and tell me about work!"

I joined her and looked in the oven. Roasted turkey breast, my favorite!

"So, how is it? Do you love it? Are you making a good impression? Are there any single guys there?"

"Hi mom, I'm fine thanks. How are you? Where's grandma?"

"Don't be like that, you're here so I know you're fine and you're lit up like a light bulb. So I know that you're happy as can be. Tell me about it?"

"It's amazing mom! The equipment! I have everything there I could possibly hope for. I couldn't ask for a better job!"

She cupped my cheek and kissed my forehead.

"I'm very proud of you sweetheart. I'm very happy for you. Now can we talk about the man situation? I'm getting old waiting for grand kids from you."

"Well I'm not pregnant right now, so you're going to have to wait even longer."

"Right now? How about ever Stephanie?"

"Mom, stop! For goodness sake! Where's grandma?"

"She's napping"

"Not anymore I'm not." Grandma said from the door. I could hear you nagging her all the way upstairs." She grumbled. "Hello sweetheart, how's the new job?" She kissed my forehead and held my cheeks in her hands.

"I love it!"

Grandma was scrutinizing my face, looking a little suspicious. I saw the idea pop into her head and a smile spread across her wrinkled face.

"How long till dinner Ellen?" She asked over her shoulder.

"About half an hour."

"Steph, would you mind driving me to the pharmacy? I forgot something while we were out earlier."

_Uh-oh_

"Um...sure, let's go now though, I'm starving."

"You didn't eat?" Mom said accusingly. She _always _thought I was too thin.

"Yeah but not much, I wanted to save room for your dinner."

"Oh, well, here, take some cookies with you, you're too thin!"

You see!

I rolled my eyes and took the bag she held out.

"Steph, come on!" Grandma yelled from the front door. I followed her outside, she rounded my car and stood at the driver's side door, hand out, beckoning for the keys.

"I don't think so! No way am I letting you drive after last time!" Grandma had had her license suspended for too many speeding tickets and hadn't told me. Last time I took her shopping I let her drive, she inevitably got pulled over and I nearly had my car impounded and _my _license taken away. If I hadn't called Joe, I would've been up to my eyeballs in fines and paperwork. She huffed but moved to the passenger side.

As soon as I slammed my door she started with the questions.

"Who is he?"

"He?" I busied myself with starting the car up and concentrating on the road.

"Oh little girl, this is me here. You may be able to deflect your mother, but you'll never be able to avoid me. Who's the guy who put this look on your face? I know what you've been up to grandchild!"

_Ewwww!_

"Ewwww, grandma! That's not really something I want you picturing!"

"Ha! You just admitted it. Tell me! I'm old; I haven't gotten any in years."

"For the love of god old woman, please stop!" Seriously, ewww!

"Don't be such a baby, if I hadn't had sex with your grandfather you would never have been here. So really you owe it to me to let me live vicariously through you."

"Really that's your argument here?" Guilt was a big motivator in our family. We pulled up to the drug store and hopped out.

"it was worth a shot." She shrugged. "Did you meet him at work? What does he look like? Come on child tell me." She wheedled.

"Fine his name is Carlos and I met him at work and I really, _really _like him. Oh and he's gorgeous and sweet."

"Yes and judging by the goofy grin on your face I'd say he's hung like a horse too!" She cackled.

"Grandma!" I said scandalized. I knew she'd be like this, that this was why she'd manufactured a reason to leave the house. We wandered around the store for a few minutes discussing the awesomeness of my new..._boyfrien_d! Finally I'd had enough and demanded we get back for dinner. We were almost to the car when she exclaimed, "we didn't buy anything! Your mother will be suspicious if we don't bring anything back with us. Go start the car and get the heater going. I'll go buy something." She scampered back into the store and I did as she said. She came out in a few minutes clutching a bag. She climbed in, dug around in the bag for a second and threw a black box at me. I picked it up to see what it was.

_Holy shit! My grandmother bought me a 12 pack of magnum condoms!_

I could now only be grateful that Carlos had declined my invitation. Not that grandma would've done something like that in front of his daughter, but something mortifying would've happened, I just know it!

"You're welcome sweetheart, use them well!" She cackled again. It's a good thing that she was one of my most favorite people in the world.

I put them in the console to get them out of sight.

I jumped at a knock on my window, but quickly became excited at who the newcomer was. I jumped out of the car, "Lula!" She pulled me into a big hug.

"Hey white girl! When did you get home?" Lula had really transformed herself in recent years. She had undergone counseling and discovered running as a stress and anxiety buster. Now she had gorgeous curves that women were jealous of and men drooled over.

"About 15 minutes ago, what are you doing tonight? Want to come over for dinner?"

"That'd be nice. I had a date, but I just wasn't feeling it, so I canceled. Joe told me something interesting about the game on Tuesday. And I can tell by the smile I'm getting, that it's true. We going to have to go out for a drink after dinner?" I nodded, "Go before your granny strains something trying to overhear us. I'll be right behind you."

I led the parade home and we trooped inside just in time to set the table. At the same time the last dish hit the table Joe and Emma wandered in and we all dug in. A party atmosphere surrounded us at the unexpected influx of friends. We laughed and talked and I gushed about my new job. It was all fun until Joe asked if I'd gone on any more _dates _with Carlos. I glared at him and kicked him under the table. I was going to tell my Mom and Dad about him before I left tonight, Dad especially as he was coming to the game on Monday and I'd probably introduce them.

"Who's Carlos?" my parents and Lula said in unison.

I couldn't help but groan, this was going to be torturous! Mom would try to marry me off immediately, Dad would bluster that he better not hurt me and Lula would want to meet him right away to make sure he was good enough. They all loved me though so I guess I owed them huh?

"His name is Carlos Manoso," I smacked my dad on the back to help clear the bread roll he'd inhaled at my admission. "I met him at work and we've been on two dates this week." there, that was more than enough information for their ears. Lula gave me a look that screamed 'I want _way _more info later'. grandma had been oddly quiet, when I looked over I saw that she was busily typing on her iPhone. Her head snapped up suddenly, evil smile on her face. "Stephanie! this guy?" she asked holding up her phone, it was showing a pic of Carlos in uniform, but sans helmet all sweaty and sexy. "Wow! He's gorgeous." My mom, Emma and Lula all hummed in agreement.

"I know!" he was so beautiful that it would hit me at odd moments. like this morning in the shower. smelling his shower gel had been enough to make me drag my tired eyes open, and holy shit what a vision he'd presented, soapy water sluicing down his perfect body. no wonder I'd attacked him, no matter we'd had sex 3 times the night before. That damn L word kept floating into my mind, but given that I couldn't even think he whole word, I thought it best to keep that little premature tidbit to myself. I was pulled from my reverie by an abrupt hand yanking me from my chair and dragging me outside.

"Joe what the fuck? get off me!" I kicked him in the calf and he released my arm.

"I thought that you weren't sleeping with him? I can tell that something's happened. I thought you said you were going to be cautious until you were sure of him?"

"Have you ever known me to be stupid with things like this? ever?"

"No but..." I steamrolled right over him.

"So why all of a sudden do you pick this guy, Joe? I really, really like him, maybe more than like him, and this is the guy you choose to be a protective dick over? I don't get it." Seriously, shouldn't he happy for me?

"Steph, I saw how you looked at him the other day, okay? I saw what you were already feeling. this guy could rip your fucking heart out! I love you too much to see you like that."

"So you don't have enough confidence in me to think I can choose who to date? Never mind that I've never had sex that was this amazing, or spent time with anyone who makes me feel the way he does. I should run away like a frightened rabbit because he might hurt me? Would you still feel that way after I tell you that he's introducing me to his daughter tomorrow?" he just gaped at me for a second.

"Seriously? You're meeting his kid tomorrow?" I nodded. He blew out a huge gust of air.

"Wow...that's just..."

"Can we finish this inside? its fucking freezing out here." He held the door open for me.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I'm being a dick about this, I'm worried about you is all." He hugged me to him. "I'm actually not going to be able to make it to the game tomorrow, Emma has a thing she has to go to for her parents and she wants me to go too."

"Do you want to give away your ticket then?" he shrugged.

"I'll take it!" Lula said from the table.

"You've never been to a game right?" she shook her head, "You sure you want to go? At least you'll be next to my dad." she reached over and fluffed my dad's hair and said, "You know how much I love your dad." he actually blushed! "Besides, I'm going to need to meet this guy." I knew that was the real reason for the sudden hockey interest.

"Sure I'll give them to you two before I leave." The rest of dinner passed uneventfully. My mother very uncharacteristically didn't say anything to me on the subject. Dad was over the moon that I was dating a New York Ranger. I begged off with Lula and we compromised with the promise of a lengthy phone call when I got home. I was home by 9 and was in bed by 10:30 after my calls to a very sleepy Carlos and a very nosy Lula. She'd wanted all the dirty details, but I ended up talking with her about my growing feelings for him.

I had a fantastic class at the ballet company the next day, and had lunch after with some friends. It turned into a celebration for Isabella as she'd just found out she would be promoted from soloist to principle dancer. That was the goal of nearly every dancer.

Before I knew it I was on my way to Carlos' with butterflies in my belly. His little girl was the most important woman in his life, and I was incredibly worried that if she didn't like me that that wouldn't bode well for any future we might have. I rang his doorbell and waited anxiously to see what would happen.

**Happy New Year everyone! **

**EA xoxo**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: For the record Physical Therapists do not spend any time behind the bench during games, but this is what I wanted for the story so just go with it.**

**These characters belong to the amazing JE. This plot, however, is all mine. **

**RPOV**

Julie was practically vibrating with excited energy by the time Steph arrived. With my enormous family Jules was never lacking in the receiving of presents, but she truly enjoyed watching someone open a gift she'd (helped) picked out. I had to jump in front of her to get to the door first. Honestly, I was just as excited to see her as Julie, though hopefully somewhat more subdued as this very minute she was jumping up and down like crazy.

"Settle down sweetheart." I said as I opened the door. Steph looked nervous, beautiful, but nervous.

I stepped aside to let her in, she brushed my hand with hers as she went to pass me and I gently pulled her back to me for a quick, chaste kiss. It had been more than 24 hours since I'd seen her, no way was she getting in here without a kiss first. She seemed more relaxed after that, like she was wondering how much affection we should display in front of Jules. I threw my arm around her waist and turned her to face my little girl, who was now cuddled into my other side, suddenly shy. "Stephanie Plum, this is my daughter Julie Manoso, Julie, this is my girlfriend Stephanie."

Steph bent down a little, "Hi Julie. It's very nice to meet you." She said shaking her hand. "Your dad has told me a lot about you. He said that you've been playing hockey?" Julie nodded, "and that you'd like to start dancing?" She nodded again, still silent.

"Dinner should be here any second ladies. Jules why don't you go wash your hands while Steph and I set the table." She took off for the bathroom and I gave Steph a more thorough and handsy greeting. She quickly pulled away though.

"I knew she wasn't going to like me! I knew it! What am I going to do?" She whispered looking a little desperate.

"Babe, calm down, it'll be fine. Rachel said she was like that when she met Ron too. She can be a little shy sometimes. Once she warms up to you, you'll never get her to stop talking. Just be yourself, and everything will be okay."

"Okay…My friend Isabella was promoted in the ballet company yesterday. We all went to lunch to celebrate after class. She gave me four tickets to the Nutcracker for the week after we get back. Do you think Julie would like to go? Isabella has the lead so I might be able to score a meet and greet after, what do you think?"

"I think she'll love it. Tell her during dinner." The girl in question ran in just in time for the food to arrive. I payed for the delivery and showed Steph were everything was to set the table. We sat and divvied up the food.

"So Julie, you're in third grade right?"

"Uh-huh." Words! Progress! That didn't take long at all.

"What's your teacher's name?"

"Mrs. Anton."

"What's she like?"

"She's nice, but it's not as fun as second grade."

"Why not? What's different this year?" And they were off. Steph was really clever, she asked open ended questions rather than something that could be answered with a yes or no. Julie shyness quickly dissolved and her natural, curious, happy personality shone through. I could tell my Babe and my baby genuinely liked each other. Before we were finished eating, Julie had already secured a promise that Stephanie would begin teaching her the basics of ballet and would ask her friends where the best dance school was in the area.

"So Julie, I saw one of my friends earlier and she gave me something that I can share with you if you'd like."

"What?"

"Well she gave me some tickets to see the Nutcracker. Have you heard of that?"

"Yes!." Julie said excitedly.

"Would you like to go see it?"

"Yes! You're going to come too right?" Steph looked like she was melting.

"Sure if you want me to. You can bring your dad too, and there's one more ticket after that. You can ask your mom or a friend or anyone you want."

"Daddy. Can I ask Mom?"

"Sure you can. I think she'd like that." It's a good thing that Ray and I had a strong friendship now or that would be one awkward outing.

"I'm not playing that night am I?" I asked Steph.

"Nope, I checked the schedule already." Then she turned to Julie. "I bet you have a really pretty dress you can wear to the show."

"I do!" She said after a moment of thought. "Mom got it the other day, it's for Christmas. It's red and has a puffy skirt." Julie was all lit up at the idea. Turning to Steph I could see she was just as luminous. I hadn't yet met a person that didn't immediately fall in love with my little girl, and it looked like Steph was no exception.

"Dad, can I give Stephanie her present?" Julie whispered to me as we were carrying our plates into the kitchen after dinner.

"Sure honey, give me your plate. The box is on my bed." She took off in the direction of my room and was back in a flash, huge dimpled smile in place. She skipped over to where Steph was picking up the last of the take-out containers.

"Excuse me Miss Stephanie? We got you this yesterday." She handed over the box. Steph looked momentarily shocked, but recovered quickly. She traced over the store name on the box, looked over at me and mouthed, "Barney's" while shaking her head. She pulled off the ribbon, took the lid off and spread the tissue. Her head snapped up and her eyes caught mine. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she shook it off and pulled the coat out of the box. She immediately slipped it on and said to Julie, "What do you think?"

"I like it! Try the hat on as well." Julie dug the other things out and handed them over.

"Julie, I don't know what to say to you. This is just so nice of you! How did you know I needed to get a new coat?"

Ever the honest kid she replied, "It was Dad's idea, but I helped!"

"It's beautiful. I love it!" She looked directly at me as she said it, but quickly bent to Julie with her arms out. Julie jumped into them and all of a sudden my chest felt like it was going to explode. How lucky can one person be? I tried not to ask the universe questions like that. Hockey players are a superstitious bunch, we worry that if something can go wrong it will. But right here, now, everything was absolutely perfect. Steph stepped up to me and hugged me to her.

"You're too much. Thank-you. I love it." Hearing her say 'I love it' in any proximity to me was doing some fucked up things to my heart.

The rest of the evening I got to watch the two of them as Steph showed Julie some basic positions, and some stretches that would help her for hockey as well. I thought that Julie was going to float away, she was so elated when Steph said she thought she would make an excellent dancer.

I called bath time at 8:00. Jules was clean and pj'd and ready for a goodnight story by 8:45. After another chapter of _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ Jules' lids were drooping.

"Can I say goodnight to Miss Stephanie, Dad?" She asked sleepily.

"Of course baby, let me go get her." I was smiling so big my cheeks were hurting.

"Hey Babe, she wants to say goodnight." We walked into Julie's room together and Steph oohed and aahed over the over-the-top fairy murals and all the toys and books in my baby's room. I wasn't lying when I said I was feeling guilty when I moved out. I really gave that decorator carte blanche in here, but if it made Julie happy, I didn't care. She was too great of a kid to ever be a spoiled brat. She bent and kissed Julie's hair. "Goodnight sweetheart. I'm so happy I met you! Sweet dreams." She kissed her forehead and left us alone.

"Go to sleep okay? I love you baby."

"I love you too Daddy." She said through a yawn. I turned off the light and pulled her door almost all the way home and bumped into Steph in the hallway. I took her hand and led her to the couch.

"Okay, I'm just going to get this over with…" Steph cleared her throat and I got nervous. She wasn't going to walk was she? Shit! I thought everything was going really well. "…Carlos, it's insane how much I already love that little girl! She's like a little you, except you know…a girl and little and her dimples! Oh my god she is so freaking cute! If we ever break up I want visitation with her…"

"Hey now!" I interrupted her, "No break up talk! And for the record, I think she's in love with you too. I told you, you had nothing to worry about. I know I'm extremely biased, but she's a great kid right?"

"Amazing! She's so…cool. All I wanted to do since I got here was squeeze her. Now I know why it kills you to not have her every day."

"You want to see a mopey mess? Wait till we're at the end of this upcoming trip! I'll be missing her something fierce. We facetime and talk on the phone, but it's just not the same. I'm so glad you'll be there. That'll make it so much better. Did they figure out the hotel situation?" I really needed to know if I had to mark my territory in front of Lester or Bobby, if she had to stay in the same room as them I would really fucking lose my shit.

"Oh, yeah. They got me my own room. I don't have to share with anyone. I think it's on a different floor from all of you, but I think I'm lucky to not be in a completely different hotel, I was booked in so late. There's plenty of room on the charter flights for me as well. This is going to be a lot of together time, you ready for that?" She sounded like she was joking, but I could hear the edge in her question. I stood up and she looked up at me surprised.

'Wait here for a second, I'll be right back." I checked on Julie and saw she was fast asleep. I stood in the doorway to the living room and called Steph over. She stopped in front of me and I gestured her down the hallway to my room. Closing and locking the door behind me, I pulled off my shirt and popped the top button of my jeans before I strode over to where she was standing by the bed. The way she looked at me made me feel like I was ten feet tall.

I slowly peeled her shirt and bra off. "Steph, I'm so ready for that. You know I'm going to sneak into your room every fucking night right?" I slipped my hand down her firm stomach, undid her pants and pushed them down too. When she was down to only her underwear, I looked at her and I knew. I loved this woman. I was pretty sure before, but after seeing her with Julie. I was positive. I was in love with her. I was also certain that if I told her right now, I'd ruin everything. So I decided to show her instead.

"What's wrong Carlos?"

"Not a damn thing." I pulled her mouth to mine and kissed her hard. She moaned and opened her mouth to me, and I thrust my tongue in her mouth. Her nails dug into my shoulders and I pushed her down on the bed.

_Jesus, I felt like I wanted to crawl inside her. I just couldn't get close enough. _

She was frantically pushing my pants and boxers down and it was so fucking satisfying to know that I wasn't alone in my desperation to be inside her. She finally succeeded in getting my pants off by using her feet to push them off and she firmly grabbed my cock, pumping me almost roughly. I reached down and tugged at her underwear, shit, maybe a bit too roughly as the one side of the flimsy fabric came apart in my hand. Judging by her moaning she didn't seem to mind.

"Shhh Babe, we have to be…oh god…quiet." I was being a hypocrite because the noises she was forcing out of me were just as loud as hers. I reached down and took her hand off me, then moved my fingers to her soaked pussy. Fuck, she was so fucking wet. I wanted to take my time and make her come before I was inside her, but if I waited one more second I felt like I was going to explode. I yanked on the bedside table drawer so hard that the whole table wobbled and nearly toppled over. I grabbed a condom ripped it open with my teeth and rolled it on one-handed, the whole time my other hand busily thrusting inside her, making sure she was ready. This wasn't going to be slow and gentle. Not with the way I felt. I ducked my head and drew her nipple into my mouth sucking hard and she shocked the hell out of me by clamping down on my hand and arching backwards, her mouth open in a silent scream. I didn't even give her time to recover. I threw her twitching legs around my waist and thrust inside her. Holy shit! I was so fucking deep, she was still pulsing from her orgasm and her eyes fluttered open. I stilled for a second completely buried in her. She tightened her legs around me and lifted her hips, begging me without words to move. I pulled almost all the way out and slammed back in. I felt her nails drag down my back. I was sure she'd broken the skin and I couldn't care any less. I slid my hands under her back and curled my fingers over her shoulders. I was slamming into her and she was thrusting up to meet me. I was biting my lip so hard I could taste blood, just trying to be quiet. We were staring at each other. I knew that if I didn't break our eye contact I was going to blurt those words out that would scare her. I ducked to kiss her and her eyes slid closed. I swallowed her moans and I could feel her body tightening. I wasn't ready for this to be over yet though so I took her hands in mine, raised them above her head pinning them to the bed with one hand and held myself up on one elbow. Seeing her stretched out underneath me, watching her body move with mine…there aren't enough words to describe how fucking amazing this felt. I slowed down, sliding in deep and pulling out only a tiny bit before pushing in deep again. While I'd managed to slow my orgasm down, her body had only gotten more and more tense. I took her mouth with mine again and changed my rhythm, whatever I did set her off and she screamed into my mouth. The way her muscles grabbed me forced me to shatter too. I fell to the side so as not to crush her and tried desperately to catch my breath. After a few seconds I dragged my head up to look at her beautiful face and was horrified to see tears leaking from the corner of her eyes.

"Babe? Shit! Did I hurt you? I'm so fucking sorry! Babe?"

She rolled towards me and I relaxed a fraction when I saw she was smiling.

"Carlos, relax," she placed her hand on my cheek. "You didn't hurt me, that was just… really fucking intense. I felt that everywhere. Sometimes this," she gestured between us, "it's just so much, you know?" I nodded, eternally grateful I'd kept my mouth shut. If she was feeling like that from the way I was looking at her and what I was doing to her, she'd freak if she heard what I was thinking.

"Okay. I'm just going to take care of this." I said stupidly gesturing to the condom I still needed to get rid of.

She was still laying there, her wild hair everywhere, legs akimbo, her arm thrown over her eyes when I came out of the bathroom. I felt that expansion in my chest again. It should have scared me; it was such a big feeling. It didn't though it just felt…right.

I slid into bed next to her and she rolled and slung her leg over mine and laid her head on my chest. "Will you stay tonight Babe?" She shook her head back and forth and mumbled, "No, it would be so wrong to sleep over the first time I meet your daughter. I just need to get enough energy up to get dressed." I hated that she was right about leaving. The comfort level that we'd achieved with each other in the very short time we'd been together blew my mind sometimes. I couldn't wait for her and Julie to get comfortable enough with each other that it wouldn't be awkward for her to stay over.

"Will you take a cab then? I know it's only two blocks, but I can't leave Julie here alone."

"No it'll be easier if I walk. I'll stay on the phone with you the whole time if it'll make you feel better. Honey, I'm from Trenton. I can handle two blocks in Greenwich Village."

"What if I call a car service? The one I use is usually pretty fast. Or I could carry Julie to the car."

"Stop. I said I'll be fine. Don't you dare wake her up! It's late and she has school tomorrow. I. Will. Be. Fine." She punctuated each word with a tiny kiss to my face.

"Fine, but you have to stay on the phone with me the whole time. Please?"

"Of course. I'll even wear my new coat. Barney's though? What were you thinking? I don't want you to spend money on me like that!"

"You don't like it?"

"I adore it!"

"Then shut up. Accept your gift gracefully and anyway, you're going to need it this week. I checked the temperature in Edmonton and it won't get above freezing. I need you to keep this…" I pulled fully her on top of me and ran my hands down her sides, "warm and healthy."

"Thank-you Carlos, I do love it. I didn't mean to sound like I didn't. It's just that I know you're probably…well off. I don't want you to think that that's what this is about."

"Oh yeah? What is this about?" I wiggled my eyebrows to lighten the mood. She giggled and rotated her hips over me.

"I'm in it for the sex, dopey." She said laughing. I feigned offence and she became serious all of a sudden. "Actually I'm in this because you're the most amazing man I've ever met. And you make me feel big things here." She lifted my hand to her chest and pressed it over her heart, "not just here" and she moved my hand to her center where she was still warm and wet.

SPOV

"Okay, I'm home now." I said into my phone.

"Alright, thanks for humoring me. I'll see you after I drop Julie off in the morning?"

"Yes you will, I'll be there before you. Just so you know, I spent that fraught five minute trek home on the phone with you so I could hear your sexy voice, not to humor you. You could be a phone sex operator, did you know that?" I could hear him making spluttering sounds on the other end. "Especially when you're all tired like you are now. Not to mention what you sound like when you're in me, you're all husky and moany and 'Babe, I'm going to come'… mmmm it's like porn for the ears…okay that started out as a joke, but now I'm turning myself on so I'm going to stop now."

"Thank-you! That round right before you left nearly killed me. I think I'd need an hour or so nap before you can coax me into talking dirty to you on the phone."

"I have a feeling that's a blatant lie. You were up and ready to go again in what? 10 minutes before?"

"I'm going to go now Babe. I really wished you'd stayed the night. We could explore what my 'sexy' voice does to you in person. Maybe after the game tomorrow?"

"Maybe, my dad and my friend Lula are coming to the game. Did I tell you last night how he almost choked on a roll when I said I was dating you? Jeez, my grandma googled you! Lula is most definitely going to want to check you out. I'm going to show them around before the game, like I did for Joe. Do you think that you could pop out and say hi?"

"To your dad?" He gulped audibly. "Didn't he used to be Special Forces?" He sounded pretty nervous. My boyfriend, the huge hockey player who got knocked around by even bigger hockey players for a living, was intimidated by my dad who had been out of the Green Berets for twenty years? He was as goofy as me sometimes.

"Don't worry; my dad loved you before _I _even met you. He might threaten to break your legs if you hurt me, but don't worry he's all bluster. As far as I know he hasn't hurt anyone seriously since that bar fight last year." He was too easy to rile up, I just couldn't resist. My dad was a pussy cat, and would probably side with Carlos in the unlikely event we had a massive fight.

"You messing with me Babe? I might just have to get you back for that."

"I'd like to see you try." This could potentially be bad. He already knew a few of my weak spots.

"Oh don't worry, you will. Night Babe, I…I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah captain. See you then."

I hung up and sighed. He just did it again. Every once In a while his voice would take on a quality that would cause this reaction in me. Every hair on my body would stand up and my nipples would shrink down to roughly the same size and density of steel ball bearings. I'd never met anyone as unbelievably sexy as him. He'd ripped an orgasm from earlier with just two fingers. Watching him be so desperate to get that damn condom on might have had something to do with it too though. And holy moly! When he'd finally pushed inside me, he was so deep and the way he was staring at me…

_Mental face palm! I pretty much told him that I L-worded him right after that. I am such a fucking dope!_

And Julie! Now _her _I can say that I'm completely in love with, that's not a scary thing to say at all. She cast a spell on me immediately with those huge brown eyes, so like her father's. I couldn't wait to take her to her first ballet. The way she lit up when I was showing her some of the basics, I could tell that she was going to love it. Hopefully her mom won't find anything objectionable in going.

I drifted through my going to bed routine on auto pilot, and woke in the morning floating on the same blissful cloud. In penance for being such a love drunk moron, I made myself do two extra sets of all my barrework and was consequently nearly late for my first patient of the day.

Carlos stopped in the medical suite close to lunch time, dressed in another beautiful suit for game day. "Hey Steph, you ready for me?"

"What?" No really, what? The suit was wreaking havoc on my brain.

"You told me to come back for a recheck after our appointment last week." Wow! Was that really only a week ago?

"Duh! Of course. Go ahead to that table by my desk I'll be right there." I finished putting the equipment I had been using away and hustled over to him. When I got close to him, he started talking quietly. "You must have scratched the hell out of me last night Babe. A couple of the guys noticed when I changed this morning. Now they're dying to know who I'm seeing. They're such a bunch of gossipy bitches." I had to shove my hands in my pockets to not pull his shirt and jacket up to take a look. I was simultaneously thrilled that I'd marked him and horrified that I'd hurt him.

"Shit! I'm so sorry. Do they hurt?"

"Babe I've had much, _much _worse injuries and at least I got these for a good reason, the best reason really. I didn't say anything to them though. Nosy assholes. They'll figure it out soon enough, but with you being behind the bench tonight and traveling with us this week…I just don't want any problems."

"What kind of problems? The guys all seem great."

"They are, they just may ask questions that might make you uncomfortable. They don't filter much among friends."

"I've been accused of the same thing more than once. We'll figure it out." I looked up from our quiet conversation only to lock eyes with Lester, and he didn't look happy. Maybe us being together want going to be as easily accepted as I'd hoped. I looked back at Carlos and noticed he'd seen as well, only he looked full-on pissed off. What the hell is going on here? Lester looked away after an uncomfortable staring contest and left with Bobby.

"Babe, has he asked you out or been inappropriate at all?"

"Who? Les? No, that was really weird. I'll talk to him later. He was joking about you and me last week. He saw how I stared after you when you left your first appointment." That got him to smile a little.

"And how was that?"

"Like you had the most biteable ass I'd ever seen."

"Oh yeah?" He said, full on smiling now. Good, I'd managed to deflect that possessive reaction of his. He better cut that shit out, although, if I saw another woman look at him I'd probably want to snatch her bald headed so...well, we'll work on it I guess.

"Uh-huh. Let's get this exam done and we can grab some lunch?"

"Get to it then." He said lounging back.

I was done in five minutes and fifteen minutes later we were eating. I had another patient in a half an hour so we'd stuck close by. We talked about what I should expect on the trip, he gave his opinion on what type of night wear I should pack (nothing, not even lingerie. Apparently that just got in the way!).

The rest of the day dragged. I only had one patient to see in the afternoon, all the players had left to rest before the game. I slogged through some paperwork and wandered over to Doc's office to talk about what was expected of me tonight. I was pretty confident in my injury assessment skills, but I was still a little nervous.

"Hey Doc, you got a minute?"

"Sure Steph, come on in." He turned back to the X-rays he was checking on his computer. He gestured to them, "what do you see?" I stepped closer and peered at the image of a left humerus.

"There's an avulsion fracture of the greater tuberosity. Who's X-Ray is this?"

"Cam Taylor, the backup goalie. He's coming in to practice after we get back. This is from three months ago. He did this before the season even started. " He said tapping the X-ray. "Good pickup on the fracture, by the way. He'll be your patient when you get back." He clicked on the next image, the fracture had healed well with some surgical intervention. We'd just have to work on building the musculature back up and he'd be fine.

"There was no dislocation, correct?" Doc shook his head.

"Should be an easy rehab then. He hasn't had any treatment yet?"

"Nope, the pins just came out last week. He's dying to get back in shape."

"Okay, I'll work on a treatment plan while we're away. So tonight, how hands on should I be? I don't think they want to be babied right?"

"Definitely while they're on the ice wait for them to say something to you, unless there's blood, then get involved right away. Let Cal tell you what to do and stay off the ice unless the refs call you guys over. I'll be here if I'm needed."

"It's going to be hard to sit on my hands with the guys. I'm getting attached already!"

"To one more than the others though right?"

_Shit._

"Ummm..."

"Look, you two aren't being overt with it. I have no problem with it as long as both if you do your jobs. Upstairs might take issue if his game gets bad, but they could never say that was your fault so don't worry about it."

"If we weren't being 'overt' how did you know?"

"Steph he's my friend. I haven't seen him this happy in a very long time. You might not be being obvious, but I'm not blind either. I don't know you that well yet, but I'd guess you don't normally walk around with a perma- grin either." I felt my cheeks heat up.

"He's really happy?" Getting confirmation of this was really satisfying. He simply nodded.

I left his office and went to go pack up. Bobby wasn't in the treatment room, but Les was still there, he'd been avoiding me since that stare down with Carlos earlier.

"Hi, Les. You getting ready to go?" He muttered "mmhmm" without turning around.

"You excited about getting out of the city for a bit?" Come on Lester, I don't do conflict well.

"Yep." He said blithely.

"Alright, what the problem Les? Why are you acting like this?"

"Nothing I have to say right now will make me look like anything other than a huge douchebag. So I'm going to keep my trap shut."

"Well you're doing that without actually speaking your mind anyway. I thought we were getting along pretty well and I was already counting you as a friend, but whatever crawled up your ass better crawl back out. I don't want to work like this!"

"Well, I don't need to see you drooling over every player that comes in here like some slutty puck bunny."

"I do not! What the fuck? How dare you!" He better not be serious with this.

"I saw you with Ranger this morning."

"Yeah with Ranger, singular, as in Carlos, not every fucking player on the team you asshole, not that it's any of your fucking business but I happen to be falling in...I care for him a lot." I whisper yelled at him. Thankfully there weren't as many people around as there would be in an hour.

His eyes widened and his posture deflated a little.

"It's serious? You and him? That was fast." I nodded. Really what could I say? He was right about that.

"Yes, god! You are such an asshole! The first thing you assume is that I'm some giant slutbag? Un-fucking-believable."

"I'm sorry, I really am. I was kinda hoping...never mind." _Oooh!_ "Well I hope, that it works out for you. Can we pretend we never had this conversation?" He looked at me beseechingly.

"You have no idea how much that idea appeals to me. If you make any more assumptions about me though, I'll kick you in the balls with my pointe shoes on! Dick."

"I'm really sorry Tiny Dancer."

"Enough. I'll see you tomorrow at the airport?" He nodded.

"Have fun on the bench. See you tomorrow." He grabbed his stuff and hustled out.

I checked my watch and saw it was time to go meet Dad and Lula. I bet that was an interesting trip. I was convinced that my dad had a little crush on Lula, she knew it too. And used it sometimes. It was very good natured really. Lula had a strange universal appeal, everybody loved her. That's why she was so good at her job.

I met them coming out of Penn station, Dad in the jersey I'd gotten him for Christmas last year and Lula sporting a new Rangers shirt under her jacket, it looked good on her. My girl didn't do anything half assed. We walked back up stairs and I rehashed the tour I'd given Joe the week before. We bumped into Doc by the locker room so I introduced him, "Dr. Pierre Boulanger, this is my dad Frank Plum, and this is my friend Tallulah Smith." Lula nearly smacked me in the face going to shake his hand. Dad and I exchanged smirks. Lula was something of a man eater. They immediately struck up a conversation and turned slightly away from us. I rolled my eyes and looked over my shoulder just in time to see Carlos making his way toward us. Clomping on his skates. "Hey Babe." It was just the five of us in the hallway so he kissed my cheek and put an arm around my waist, he pulled his other hand from his glove and extended it to my dad.

"Mr. Plum, nice to meet you." My dad was quiet for a minute, just staring at Carlos. He gathered himself and shook his hand.

"It's really good to meet you too. I know it'll be too late after the game, but my wife asked me to invite you to dinner at our house when you two have the day off?"

Carlos pulled me in closer, looked at me questioningly, he waited for my nod and said, "I'd love to. Thank-you for the invitation."

Dad surprised me as he didn't launch into his usual 'you better be good to my baby' spiel. Instead he told Carlos that he better win and turned to join in Lula's conversation with Doc.

I looked up at Carlos and echoed my dad's sentiment before kissing him quick and then putting some distance between us. He headed to warm up and I ushered Dad and Lula to their seats, and went to meet up with Cal. We carried out all our supplies to the bench and I exchanged my sneakers for slip resistant boots, and waited for the game to begin. The view from here was even better than the seats I'd had last week. Feeling the energy build as the crowd made their way in was amazing too. But hands down, watching the players fly around was the best. Carlos and I had discussed this yesterday. There'd be nothing but a professional relationship out here, it was hard not to focus on him, I'm not going to lie. I got it under control by the time the puck dropped and the Maple Leafs were trying to break my boys 10 game winning streak. Right away the game was pretty rough, even more than usual. My heart nearly stopped when that piece of shit McLoren hit Carlos in the face with the back of his glove. It was a struggle not to rush out there and kick that jerks ass, but I realized it might be a little emasculating for Carlos to be defended by his 115 lb. girlfriend. When I saw that his lip was bleeding though, I saw red. He saw the look on my face and shook his head infinitesimally. I sighed and stood back while Cal held some gauze out which Carlos refused. That asshole had now effectively deprived me of however many kisses I would've gotten until his lip was better, not to mention all the other wonderful things that he does with his mouth. I could've cried right then, I really could have.

He rinsed his mouth with water and spit some blood into a garbage can I held out for him. That was all the distraction he allowed himself, and he refocused on the game. I was incensed that McLoren only got a double minor, and was only sent to the penalty box for 4 minutes, but we scored on the resulting power play which made me feel a little better. I couldn't even see Carlos under the guise of providing medical care after the first period as he had to give an interview.

We truly spanked the Leafs with a final score of 5-1 and by games end no one else had been hurt. I took my time getting out of there. Lula had sent me a text telling me that she had gotten Doc's phone number and they were going for a drink. I just hope Doc made it to the airport in time for our 10:00 charter flight the next morning! I called Dad and he was already on the way home.

I headed to my loft to finish packing. I took the condoms out of my car console and tried hard not to think about who gave them to me. That's really not the image I need in my head when I'm trying to get naked.

About a half hour later my doorbell rang, and I buzzed Carlos in. He surprised me by pinning me to the wall as soon as he got through the door kissing me thoroughly he had me half naked by the time I remembered that his lip must be hurting.

"Baby stop, let me see? Please? I was going crazy not being able to see during the game." He backed away and I pulled him over to my bed. His mouth was bruised at the corner and a tiny bit swollen, the laceration that bled quite profusely before was actually very small.

"It's fine Babe. I can hardly feel a thing. You're going to see me get hurt a lot worse than this. You're going to have to get used to it." I arched a brow.

"Oh yeah, you planning on keeping me around huh?" Actually the only way he was getting rid of me was with a restraining order and a body guard.

"You bet your sweet ass!" He palmed both cheeks in question. I noticed I didn't get the full grin. I knew his lip hurt more than he was letting on! I leaned down and gently kissed it better. I told him about my conversation with Les, I was going to leave out the part about Les thinking that he and I might go out, but in the interest of honesty I told him everything. Predictably he got possessive and spent the next half an hour showing me exactly who got to touch me, kiss me, fuck me. The word mine was said a few times. This should have pissed my inner feminist off big time, but nothing. She was probably off in a post coital coma somewhere.

I was laying sprawled on him, when I heard his stomach growl. It was 11:30 already and the poor guy still hadn't eaten dinner yet.

"Cereal, or grilled cheese?" I said looking at his face.

_How is he so perfect?_

"Both? I'm fucking starving." I jumped up, threw on his shirt and got to work. I burned the first two sandwiches because he insisted on standing right behind me with his hands under my shirt softly rubbing his fingertips from my chest to groin, while he was touching me intimately it felt more affectionate than sexual. I felt cherished.

We sat on the couch to eat. I looked over at the pile of boxes that held my new dining set and sighed. It'll take hours to put all that together, it was simple enough, there was just a lot to do. He looked at them too.

"Can I help you put all that together?"

"Seriously? I was going to offer you sexual favors if you helped me with it! But, if you're willing to do it for free…" He cut me off by tickling me.

"Please, you'll do those things anyway! Won't you?" He had me there.

"Probably, and yes, your help would be greatly appreciated." I kissed him and I felt him flinch slightly.

"I knew it was hurting! Come on Captain, time for bed. We have a flight to catch in the morning."

He followed me to my bed and we snuggled down for the night, more content than I've ever been.

**AN 2: The road trip is next! It's going to be fun!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Sorry this took so long, for some reason this chapter was hard to write. These two get a bit naughty (for me to write at least) in this update. There's some hockey talk later, but I didn't get too technical I hope.**

**These characters belong to the great JE, this plot is all mine though. **

SPOV

It's funny how you become so quickly accustomed to waking up next to someone. This was only our second sleepover, yet waking up with Carlos' hand curved around my boob and feeling his solid, warm weight against my back just felt...perfect. It was still early, but I couldn't sleep anymore. He was dead to the world, snoring softly against the top of my head so I slipped out of bed to try and squeeze in a workout. We had four games over the next 6 days so I didn't know when I'd be able to eke out enough time for exercise. I still had his shirt on so I pulled on a pair of shorts and dug out my iPod so I wouldn't wake him. I left the shades down as the sun would be pouring through the window very soon and got to work. I was working my right side practicing developpees, facing away from him when I felt him slide one hand around my waist and the other around the thigh that I had extended into what was basically a vertical side split he pressed his body tightly against my extended leg ensuring I kept it in the air. He pulled out one of my ear buds and murmured "is this okay," While sliding his fingers under the hem of my shorts.

"Um yes...unh! Oh my god!" His left hand had slowly trailed its way up under my shirt and was twisting and pinching my nipple and he had already worked a finger inside me. I couldn't hold my leg up anymore and let my knee bend over his shoulder. My leg was still stretched enough that I knew it'd hurt later, but the way he was touching me coupled with the look on his face...jeez he was going to have me coming in no time. He'd moved around to stand in front of me and had managed to keep my leg over his shoulder. When I looked down I saw that he was so hard that the very tip of him was peeking out the waistband of his boxer briefs. I had a death grip on the barre and one hand on his neck. I dragged his mouth to mine and kissed him fiercely heedless of his injury. He kissed his way to my ear.

"I thought about fucking you like this that first day I came into your office. Did you know that?" He said in that sexy voice of his. He'd kept up his torturous fingers this whole time and my legs were shaking from my position and my impending orgasm. I moaned and shook my head. He must have known how close I was as the hand that'd been torturing my breast moved to the center of my back to support me a little better just in time for me to explode and arch backwards. He gently lowered my leg and turned me till my back was to his front and he yanked those little shorts off me. He pushed his shirt up and over my head and splayed one of his large hands across my stomach.

"Babe stay right here. Don't move okay?" I nodded, supremely thankful that I hadn't raised the shades. If anyone was on the street below they'd be getting quite the eyeful right now. I heard him rummage through my bedside table and when I turned my eyes to see what he was doing was treated to his beautiful bare behind and then the front view as he spun and strode over to me. I wish I had the fortitude to drag my eyes up to his face as I'd already become addicted to the sexy serious face he wore when he was turned on, but alas, my attention was about two and a half feet lower. I got really excited when I saw that he'd already rolled the condom on and then I felt him pressed behind me.

"Hold on to the barre Babe. Hold on tight okay?"

_Oh god!_

"Yes," I whimpered. I felt his hand between my shoulder blades pushing my upper body down till I was bent forward 90 degrees. I felt his hand smooth over my ass cheek then move to my center again. He pulled back and lightly smacked both cheeks.

_Oh my god! _

He needed to get inside me right now and I told him so. He growled and lined himself up, "hold on" he said as he plunged in. Holy crap! He was so big like this. He was slamming into me, our noises echoing and bouncing back against my ears. This man was hands down the best lover I'd ever had. Even after the earth shaking orgasm he'd given me not five minutes before, I was well on my way to an even bigger one. I was already high up on my toes because of our height difference and he pulled my hips back a tiny bit more and now I was glad that my shoes were still on and rolled all the way up. His fingers slid between my legs and he started tapping on my clit. My knees buckled with the force of my orgasm and I probably would've fallen if he wasn't holding me so tightly. He came a few seconds later. Very loudly, he was so vocal during sex; I don't think he even knew some of the things that came out of his mouth when he was coming. He slumped over me, his arms bracketing mine still holding tightly to the barre and kissing across my shoulders making me shiver all over again.

"Babe...holy shit! That was insane! Do you have any idea how much I love doing that to you?"

"Yeah, I think I have inkling..." I was still huffing and puffing. "You might need to carry me to the shower though; I don't think my legs are going to work." I felt him chuckle against my neck, and then move his hands to pry my fingers off the barre. All of a sudden I was slung over his shoulder.

"Hey! I was kidding! Put me down! You're going to hurt yourself." He just slapped my ass again and made his way to the bathroom. I got two handfuls of his delectable derriere though so I guess it wasn't all bad! He gently set me down in the old claw foot tub; I turned the water on as he stepped in too.

"I want to sit in here with you when we get back." He said looking down at the long deep bathtub.

"I think we can do that." I said as I soaped up my hands and started to rub his chest. We had a little while before we had to get to the airport so we stayed in there kissing and touching languidly till the water ran cold.

"Where's he staying?" Carlos said as I was packing up Rex's food and extra bedding.

"My neighbor said she'll watch him."

"He can stay at my apartment if you like. Ella will feed him."

"Ella?"

"My housekeeper. She doesn't usually come every day while I'm away, but she will if I ask her to."

I was stuck on the I have a housekeeper thing.

"You have a housekeeper?

"Yeah, I suck at cleaning and laundry and stuff. Who do you think makes my bed like that? If she wasn't around there'd be one pillow on that thing not fifteen!" He said incredulously.

I don't know why I found this slightly intimidating but I did. I'd never known anyone that had household help before.

"I'm sure she's busy with other clients, it'll be fine if he stays with Mrs. Molowski."

"It's up to you Babe, I know she won't mind."

"Maybe next road trip?"

"Okay, you coming home with me to pick up my bags? We can share the car to the airport." And we did just that. Thankfully, there was no other players in sight when we climbed out of the town car at JFK. We weren't 'hiding' us, but we were trying not to advertise it either, and we lived close enough to each other that it was feasible for us to car pool. There was, however, a large crowd of people gaping at the spectacle a large assemblage of professional athletes creates.

Predictably, we were just about to board our charter flight when Doc came jogging up the jet way, huge smile in place. I gave him one in return and sent Lula a congratulatory text. Judging by his demeanor, she should be one happy camper right about now.

"Are you going to sit next to me Steph?" Carlos asked.

"I have to sit with the medical team. Doc's orders."

"I don't want you sitting near Lester though. Fucking asshole." Les must've felt the heat of Carlos' glare as he looked up and turned white. You would too; if you've seen Carlos fight on the ice then you'd understand why.

"Tone it down baby. I can handle this. I told you once he realized that we were together he was apologetic and backed right down. There's nothing you need to do here." I said quietly.

"Yeah." He said distractedly. He still hadn't taken his eyes of Lester. I brushed my fingers against his and his eyes snapped to mine looking contrite. "Sorry Babe, I'll see you when we get there."

"Okay Captain, relax, enjoy the flight." I smiled up at him and the tense set of his shoulders relaxed a bit. He gave me his gorgeous grin and I wanted so badly to kiss him right now. The grin widened when he realized what I wanted. He turned away and sat down next to Ryan McDougall, who immediately started talking. I made my way over to where Doc, Cal, Lester and Bobby were already sitting. Doc and I discussed my possible treatment options for Taylor, and some of the therapies I'd be providing while we were away. We had four players with minor injuries that were still on the roster. I would be assisting Cal in three of the four away games and we would all be rubbing the players down after the games, something that was particularly important for injury prevention when they played back to back like this.

I know, poor me right?

Doc got up to go to the bathroom halfway through the flight and Les slid right into his seat.

"Steph did you really have to tell him?" He asked quietly.

"You're kidding me right? Yes I had to tell him! Don't say things to me you don't want repeated to him." I responded in the same tone. "What did you think; I'd take that shit to the grave? Just because you're embarrassed about being a jackass doesn't mean that I'm not going to vent to the person I care about. You said some really nasty stuff about me."

"I know! I was being an asshole and I'm sorry, but fear for my life is my primary concern right now, not embarrassment. Have you seen that guy throw a punch? I've seen him knock someone out cold with one hit Steph!"

"Yeah, I've only seen him play in pretty much every game since he was drafted." I replied dryly. "Stop peeing your pants Molester, I've told him that I'll handle this. Just keep it professional, okay?"

"I really am sorry Tiny Dancer; I was way out of line. For what it's worth I was jealous. If he ever messes..."

"Do not finish that sentence," I said holding up my hand. "Please go back to your seat; I thought we were done talking about this?"

"We are. I'll never bring it up again."

"Shoo, get out of here." He grinned and hopped up just in time for Doc to get back.

Before I knew it we'd landed in Pittsburgh and I was so glad that Carlos had bought me that beautiful coat because it was freezing! We'd all be leaving for Montreal tomorrow night after the game, and it was even colder there.

Getting through the airport and on the bus was an experience. JFK had been pretty quiet. The guys had gotten a lot of attention, but they were rushed through to the charter jet too quickly before anybody had the chance to approach them. As we had to wait for the bus to circle around the terminal to pick us up, a motley crew of travelers assembled asking for autographs, so it was a while before we managed to get away. It was after three by the time we finally got to the hotel. I know I got a little snarky if I skipped a meal, but keep 22 professional athletes away from lunch and holy moly! What a bunch of whiners! Everyone scattered as soon as we checked in, either cabbing or hoofing it in search of sustenance. We'd be having a big team dinner later tonight so splitting up now wasn't such a big deal. Carlos was rooming with our rookie JT Ziller, a virtual baby at the age of only just 19. He was a good kid, but once the little puck bunnies scented fresh meat they'd be on him like flies on shit. I dragged my bags to my room, which was small but still luxurious. I opened the curtains to a fantastic view of...a parking lot, yay! I got over that as soon as I went into the bathroom. It was nearly as nice as Carlos' bathroom at his house!

Doc and Carlos showed up at my door five minutes later.

"C'mon Babe lunch time." Carlos took my hand and towed me to the elevator. Doc brought up the rear, peppering me with questions about Lula as we walked to the next block. I switched to French because I wanted to mess with him and I didn't know how he'd feel about it in front of Carlos.

"Mon Dieu Doc n'avez vous pas deux parler du tout hier soir?"

"Oui, Un petit peu." He responded with a grin.

"Este-vous restez toute la nuit avec elle?" I can't believe she didn't tell me!

"Je ne dis pas." He said trying for innocent.

"Casse-toi!" I told him with a shove. He might have even moved an inch or two.

I looked over at Carlos and realized he was watching our banter with an amused expression.

"I got enough of that to think that you had a good night last night huh?" He cracked a smile at Doc and held the door to Jimmy Johns open for us.

"Captain, you can speak French?"

"Si, mi vida, espaniol tambien." He murmured in my ear. Oh yum! I hadn't heard him speak in Spanish yet, pair that with his sexy times voice and it was sparking some serious heat south of my belly button.

"I've played hockey with French Canadians enough to know the basics, and Spanish is pretty similar so..." He said in his normal voice, shrugging.

Ryan McDougall and Brandon Boyler had been eating there when we walked in and they waved is over to their table. We ordered quickly and pulled some chairs over and I ended up wedged between Brandon and Carlos. Sometimes when I was around these guys I felt like a little kid, they dwarfed me! Carlos had his arm draped over the back of my chair, something that didn't go unnoticed by the other guys.

"So?" Boyler gestured between us, "What's going on with you two?" He questioned with a grin.

_Wow! I wasn't expecting a straight out question. _

Carlos moved his hand from the chair back on my waist and pulled me into his side. He looked me in the eye questioningly and I gave him a nod telling him to field that one.

"Steph and I are seeing each other." He said to the group giving me a little squeeze and a blinding smile.

"You Lucky fucker!" McDougall reached over and punched his shoulder, making my cheeks heat up.

"Good thing I didn't ask you out the other day then huh Tiny Dancer? I'd hate for Ranger to be all sad when you dumped his ugly ass for me!" Brandon said to me with a nudge of his shoulder.

"Hey! Who're calling ugly Asshole? You go after my woman I'll have coach scratch you!" He seemed like he was joking but there was an edge to his statement.

"No worries man, not my style. Don't fuck up though, there'll be a line forming behind you."

"Hey I'm right here you know!" I hated it when people spoke about me like I wasn't there. "I have no intentions of working my way through the roster! I just couldn't resist this face." I said placing my hand on Carlos' stubbly cheek and giving him a goofy kissy face. He gave me that happy smile again.

"Ugh you guys are kind of disgusting you know!" McDougal said with a shudder, "hey! Is that why Steph looked like she was going to vault the boards and kick someone ass when you got hit the last night?"

"Hell yeah, that was some bullshit! I would've hurt him too! Just wait; we have Toronto again January 4th." I was getting pissed all over again.

"Calm down Tiny Dancer, these guys will protect his pretty face, right?" Doc said looking at Brandon and Ryan. We all cracked up at that and tucked into the massive subs that had just been brought over. Conversation stopped while they got down to some serious eating. We were about to leave when I realized that someone was right behind us. Turning toward them I noticed some very giggly teens. I nudged Carlos and he turned and smiled at the high schoolers. They whispered back and forth probably trying to decide which one was going to ask for an autograph. Finally one of them stepped forward and asked. "Can we get your autographs?"

"Sure, got a pen?" Ryan said as he stood. The brave girl dug around in her bag and came out with a pink glitter gel pen. I had to cover my mouth to not laugh at seeing the big macho guy holding that delicate little pen. Then I had to fight to not scream at this maybe 16 year old when she pulled down the neck of her shirt so he could sign her breast.

_What the fuck! _

I handed him a napkin, while glaring at this stupid child. I've never understood why girls think being slutty equates with being desirable for more than just a quick bang.

She just sneered at me as the guys signed that napkin for them. They asked for a picture with them, and then left.

"That happen a lot?" I asked Carlos when we were on our way back to the hotel.

"What? The autograph thing? All the time."

"No the boob thing. What the hell was that?"

"Oh, well yeah. It's not that big of a deal."

_Umm…What? _

"Those kids were no older than 16! That's a pretty big deal."

"Usually they're a little older, but it can get worse than that. I've had women ask if they could blow me. They just come right out and say it!"

I might have had steam coming out of my ears.

"And how do you answer them?"

"What do you think? I never cheated on Rachel, and I told you that I hadn't been with anyone in the year since we split." Oops! He sounded a little pissed at me. It's probably a good thing we'd fallen behind the others. This was too personal of a conversation to be having with an audience.

"You're going to have to give me a little bit to get used to you being hit on like that. I trust you, I do. This is still new though and I'm feeling territorial. I can't promise to always be okay with it, and they were just kids!"

"Look, I plan on us staying together for a long time. Stop worrying about those silly girls, the only person I want to see naked is you, the only person I want to touch is you, the only person I want to fuck is you." His voice had gotten progressively lower as he spoke and his last admission had raised goosebumps over every single part of me. When we reentered the hotel the others were nowhere in sight.

"Come to my room with me?" I whispered, surprised by the hoarseness of my voice. I needed to be with him right now more than I needed air to breathe. He nodded and pushed me into the corner of the elevator kissing me as soon as the doors shut. He broke away before the doors slid open and followed me calmly to my room.

He showed me last night who owned my body, so as soon as the door closed behind us I dropped to my knees and showed him who owned every inch of his.

RPOV

Okay I'm going to be crude here, but holy shit did my Babe know how to suck me off. I swear that every time she did it was like she sucked out some brain cells too. I knew that she still needed tending to, but I really needed a few minutes to come to my senses. I stumbled over and climbed on the bed and tried to catch my breath. She stared at me from across the room.

"Babe, c'mere." She moved to the end of the bed. "Strip for me." She'd already told me my voice turned her on, but she got really excited when I gave dirty little commands. Her eyes darkened at my words, and she slowly peeled off her clothes.

_I am a lucky, lucky man._

She climbed on the bed and gave me a light peck on the lips.

"Nu-uh really kiss me." I pulled her closer and kissed her much more deeply, she should know by now that kissing her after she went down on me wasn't a turn off. Quite the opposite actually, it sparked a possessive urge in me unlike anything I'd ever felt before. I really needed to taste her right now. She was already straddling me so I guided her hips up toward my face. She realized what I was doing and muttered, "Shit, Carlos!" But she kept moving until she was where I wanted her. I looked up and what a sight! Her sex was immediately above my face, bare except for a little patch if curls on her mound, she was wet and swollen and I wasn't in the mood to tease her, she was already panting and whimpering. I dove in and pulled out every trick I could think of to get her to come fast in my mouth. She moaned and squirmed the most when I used my fingers and tongue, so that's what I did. I had two fingers inside her and I was flicking her clit with my tongue when I felt her start to tighten. She started chanting my name and I knew I was onto something; I added a bit more pressure and was rewarded with her going rigid and moaning incoherently. I really could do this forever; she was delicious and so fucking responsive. She started to shift down so I helped her move off me and pulled her down until she flopped onto me. Her pussy about an inch from my now hard again cock. I so wanted to push her down that last inch and enter her bare. I really didn't know how she would react to that. We'd had the safety talk before the first time we had sex. We were both clean and healthy, she was on the pill, but we'd agreed that using condoms was the way to go for now. She shifted slightly and we made contact. Her head snapped up and she looked me in the eye. I was trying not to show how good her warm wetness felt, but it was probably written all over my face, my loud groan was may have been a little telling as well. She bit her lip and seemed to deliberate for a second. A wicked grin spread across her beautiful face and she leaned down to kiss me at the same time as she purposely lowered her hips and the very tip slipped inside her. I gritted my teeth against the feeling. It was unbelievable how much that tiny layer of rubber dulled the sensation of her tight heat. She moved more and I was half way in when I caught her eyes.

"Is this...ooooh...okay?" She said giving me my words back from this morning.

"Unnn...yes." I gritted out. She'd moved all the way down now and the feeling was indescribable. I could tell that this would be quick for me. I could feel too much, her warm smooth skin and the slight weight of her body, her hard little nipples, the soft fullness of her tits rubbing against my chest, her slender thighs flexing as she moved astride me, the incredible heat inside her.

"Babe stop...please...let me get a condom...I'm not going to last like this." The fact that I had an iron grip on her hips helping her move up and down on me kind of belied my words, but my god! The way this felt!

"Carlos... I just need to feel you...please don't make me stop." Okay fine! That was enough arguing from me. This felt way too good to stop. She sat up and I had no idea where to put my eyes. Watching the way the pleasure manifested on her face, the hypnotic sway of her breasts and seeing my cock disappear inside her then reappearing slick and shiny with her wetness, all pulled my attention in different directions. Her head lolled back and the feeling of her muscles starting to clamp down forced my eyes to where we were joined. I placed a single finger on her stiff little clit and pressed down firmly, rhythmically on it. She shattered almost violently over me. I couldn't hold back another second with the way her pussy was squeezing me and I came so hard that hundreds of tiny black spots were clouding my vision. She flopped on me again and we lay there for a few minutes gasping for breath. I could feel her body getting heavier on top of me, and my eyelids started to slide down. I reached for the alarm clock and managed to set it for seven so we would have time to get ready for dinner. We'd both gotten an early start and we had three back to back games before the next day off, I was going to take any rest I could get. I gently maneuvered her until she was cradled into my side, kissed her temple and drifted off to sleep thinking about how much I loved this woman in my arms.

I woke after less than two hours of sleep disoriented and groggy to the blaring of that damn alarm clock. I could hear the shower running, so I trudged into the bathroom and caught a glimpse of Steph soaping up through the glass. I slipped in behind her and was gratified to see she didn't startle at my sudden appearance. I'd noticed last week that if she was near but out of sight I felt an awareness of her presence. I was hoping that it was the same for her. I took the shampoo bottle out of her hands and washed her hair then ran my soapy hands all over her perfect body. I was struck again with how much I wanted to be with her. Being that we worked together and would be together for the duration of this trip we couldn't possibly see any more of each other. But the next three days were going to be so busy with training and games and moving cities every night that I didn't know when I'd be able to touch her like this until our day off. So I didn't hesitate to turn her around so she could see that I wanted her again, that I needed to be inside her again right now. I lifted her against the wall and slid inside her, she was so ready for me and I took her hard and fast right there. I just couldn't get enough of her. The way she clawed at me and how tightly her legs squeezed me told me that it might be the same for her. For as hard as I took her we came quietly kissing and swallowing each other's moans. All I could think was how fucking much I loved her. I was still worried that she wasn't ready for me to say it, hell I didn't know if I was ready to say it. I just knew I felt it, big time.

"Hi." She smiled lazily at me when I finally pulled my lips from hers.

"Hi." I love you. Maybe if I said it enough in my head I could find my balls and actually say it out loud.

We climbed out and dried off. I dressed and kissed her one more time before heading back to my room to change for dinner.

J.T. looked up when I walked in.

"Hey Captain, where have you been?" He said with a smile.

"None of your business. You ready to go down for dinner?" He was already dressed.

"Yeah, doesn't look like you are though." I was still in the jeans, long sleeve shirt and jacket that I'd flown here in.

"Go on ahead and I'll meet you there in 5 minutes." He took off and I opened my garment bag and pulled out my suit. It was a little wrinkled but it would have to do. I was already a running late because of the shower with Steph. I quickly got dressed, called Julie for an update on her day and to say goodnight and headed downstairs.

We'd pretty much taken over the hotel restaurant, between the 5 member medical team, 5 coaches and 22 players. We were a huge group. I walked over to Espo and we talked for a minute before a low murmur took over the group and I felt that tingle on my neck, sure enough my Babe sauntered in looking amazing in a pretty blue dress and heels. She was headed in my direction when Doc called her over to his end of the table. She gave me an apologetic smile and moved in his direction. I felt my temper bubble up at all the eyes that followed her ass to her seat. It was like they'd never seen a beautiful woman before, then again I was staring too and I'd been looking at her naked not 15 minutes ago so...

"Carlos, helllllooooo". I felt Esposito tap me on the shoulder.

"Sorry coach." As far as I know he wasn't aware of what was going on between us so I tried not to look too guilty.

"Yeah, I had an interesting chat with Ryan and Brandon a while ago." He said looking unhappy.

_Goddamn gossipy bitches. _

"Oh yeah? What did they say?" I was kicking their ass at practice tomorrow. Fuckers.

"That you and our new girl are dating."

"Uh..." What to say? "Yes we are. I hope that's not an issue."

"As far as the organization is concerned it's not. We don't have a policy against dating within the company, but if this fucks up your game, one of you will end up being shipped out to the farm team so fast your head will spin. Given that you just signed a contract I doubt it'll be you. Don't flash it around too much, keep it off the bench and out of the Garden and we should be okay, but I'm really annoyed that you didn't tell me right away." Fuck! If they sent her to Hartford I'd never get to see her. This job was her dream; no way was I going to screw this up for her.

"Sorry coach. We'll keep it quiet okay?" He nodded. Then broke out into a grin.

"I gotta say though, I like seeing you this happy. Be good to her Carlos, she's a really cool chick."

"She really is huh?" We both looked in her direction. She looked up from her conversation with Doc and I saw realization of what coach and I were talking about flash across her face. Her cheeks blushed a shade darker and she bit her lip, looking worried. I shook my head and smiled and she visibly relaxed.

Dinner was good even if I couldn't sit with her. Espo gave us a little prep on how practice was going to go tomorrow, and told us he wanted everyone in the hotel gym by 8 the next morning as we couldn't practice at Consul Energy Center until The Penguins were done with their morning skate. We'd have no time for any real rest tomorrow before the game, but I knew we'd be fine against the second place in the conference team. I could feel it in my bones.

I saw Lester get up and move toward the elevators, so I excused myself and followed behind him. I knew Steph was right behind me, and she'd asked me to let her handle this, but I just couldn't let it go. I can understand him wanting to take her out, she was an amazing woman. It was the nasty shit he accused her of that pissed me off. I stepped into the elevator with her right behind me and the asshole looked scared, good.

"Carlos, I asked you to leave this alone. Stop please?" Ugh I hated it when she said please like that. I knew that I wasn't going to hit the bastard, but they didn't.

"Babe, I just need to say a few things. That's all." She looked slightly mollified and reluctantly let go of my arm. The elevator stopped and we moved into a deserted hallway.

"Listen to me Lester. Steph told me what you said to her. You were way out of line, and if I find out you've said anything that even slightly upsets her in the future, I will fuck you up." I said quietly right in his face. He was almost as tall as me, but he knew the kind of damage that I could inflict if I got pissed enough.

"I apologized and I meant it. I was being a huge dick. I was just jealous that you'd gotten there..." I cut him off with a growl and the only thing that stopped me from pinning him to the wall by his throat was the delicate warm hand on my wrist. "I meant that you'd gotten her to go out with you." He said with his hands up and stepping backwards. "Look I'm sorry, it won't happen again. I swear."

"Just shut the fuck up Les. Moron!" She spat at him. "C'mon Carlos, walk me to my room." She pressed the down button for the elevator and it popped open right away and she tugged me on. I gave the asshole one last glare before the doors slid shut.

"What the fuck? I told you I'd handle that. What were you thinking?" She was pissed at me?

"You think I'm going to let some asshole talk to you like that. I don't fucking think so Steph. I wasn't raised to disrespect women, and I'm not going to let the woman I lo...I'm seeing get treated like that." I averted my eyes at the end of my statement there but her gasp told me she'd heard my almost slip up anyway. If I couldn't tell her while I was making love to her, or after for that matter, I definitely wasn't going to say it for the first time while we were mad. We'd made it her door by this point and she opened the door and held it for me to enter.

"What were you and Espo talking about earlier?" She asked in a much calmer voice.

I rehashed our conversation and she looked worried.

"So after he tells you to keep it down, you physically threaten one of the staff because he insulted me. Carlos...what if Les says something?"

"Lester won't say anything, because then he'll have to admit what he said to you to start the whole thing in the first place."

"I really hope you're right. I'll talk to him in the morning. I'm trying to get back to the friends I thought we were before all this.

"It'll be fine Babe, please don't worry. I'll just make sure I play my hardest and nothing will happen okay." I pulled her in close and rested my chin on top of her head. Hmmm, I really loved the way she fit against me.

"Are we okay?" I felt her nod against my throat.

"Yes we're okay. Just watch the caveman shit. It pisses me off." The effect of her words lost weight as she said it without removing her lips from my skin. I grinned down at her.

"I have to stay in my room tonight to watch the rookie. You'll be okay?" I wanted to stay here so much, but I'd promised the kid's parents that I'd look out for him. I knew how much trouble rookies could walk into without even trying.

"I'll be fine. I'll see you in the gym in the morning." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me softly; I cradled her face and deepened it. I broke the kiss before I started undressing her again.

"Goodnight Babe. I'll see you in the morning."

_I love you._

I kissed her again and headed up to my room, feeling all wrong to be leaving her alone. My feelings for her were so intense that they should have been scary.

The kid was kicked back watching TV on the suite's couch, when I got to the room.

"Where'd you go Captain? You got a little something right there." He said smiling, pointing to his mouth.

I pointed in the direction of his bedroom, "go to sleep wiseass, we've got a rough couple of days coming up. You'll get benched if you not at your best tomorrow." Like I was going to tell him where I'd been.

"Yes sir, captain sir!" He said with a smart assed salute. I feigned a lunge in his direction and he jumped up and shot into his room. Ha! I could still intimidate . Punk.

Seeing her in the gym the next morning initially caused a surge of jealousy in me, I didn't like seeing her hands touching the other guys. But I calmed down after watching her interactions with them. She would talk to each of her assigned players, listen to any complaints and she would offer suggestions on how to fix whatever they said was weak or hurting. More than anything I could see how much doing this, helping people, meant to her. Her smile said it all. She made it to me and she checked my ankle again, albeit unnecessarily, but I wasn't going to complain about her touching me!

The rest of the day flew by and we had a fantastic practice after I got back at McDougall and Boyler for blabbing my business. Ryan took my slap shot to his ass and Boyler got my stick blade in the balls. We were going to kick some ass on the ice tonight. Everyone's energy was really high and we were bouncing by game time. We had a great first period, scoring three goals right on top of each other, I got two assists and I was starting to think having Steph behind the bench was a good luck charm. Pittsburgh rallied in the second period though and it was now 3-2. There was about three minutes left to go in the third and I was waiting for the puck to drop on a face off at our end. I was dropped back helping to cover Hal, but I could hear some shit talking going on from the centers. Sydney Cosby, the captain of Pittsburgh, had a big fucking mouth. His ability to get under your skin and draw a penalty was one of the things that made him such an effective player. We won the faceoff and everyone flew down to the other end, on the way past our bench that motherfucker looked right at Steph and blew her a kiss. Cocky asshole. She just sneered at him and I smiled to myself at her sassiness. Most women would be flattered at being noticed by someone like Cosby. We got two shots on goal off but neither went in. Cosby stole the puck and headed back towards Hal, so I hip-checked that little shit into the boards. What I wasn't counting on was his skate blade coming up on his way down and slashing the shit out if my side.

Oooooowwwww, motherfucking ow!

**AN 2: That would be the same injury that was sustained by a Philadelphia Flyer this week. If you want to see the video go to youtube and search Brayden Schenn skate blade. It will give you a clue as to whether Carols will be okay or not. Just remember hockey players are really friggin tough. **

French translations:

"Mon Dieu Doc n'avez vous pas deux parler du tout hier soir?" (My god didn't you two speak at all last night?)

"Oui, Un petit peu." (Yes, a little bit)

"Este-vous restez toute la nuit avec elle?" (Did you spend the night with her?).

"Je ne dis pas." (I'm not saying)

"Casse-toi!" (Fuck off!)


	10. Chapter 10

SPOV

Frozen. I could not fucking move. Carlos hit that asshole Cosby right in front of our bench, and now all I could see was blood seeping through his white away jersey.

"Steph! Steph." Cal shook my arm and I managed to snap out of it. "Get the kit out for me." Dreider reached out and swung the gate open and Carlos slowly made his way in to sit on the bench. I knelt down, heart thumping madly, and pushed his jersey up to assess the damage and was confronted with a 6 inch long laceration on his left flank that was, thankfully, not very deep, but was bleeding sluggishly. Someone dangled a package of sterile gloves in my face and I snapped them on. Cal was bent down next to me,

"Do we need to call Doc?" I asked him.

"Nope, it's superficial we can glue this up. It'll be fine." He said calmly. I looked at him incredulously.

"Seriously?"

"Babe, it's not that bad. Just fix it up and I'll get back in the game." I hadn't looked at his face yet, I was too worried the pain I'd see there would set me off. But his calm voice gave me the courage to finally glance up only to see him silently imploring me not to freak out.

_Treat him like you would the others Steph. You can discuss the idiocy of him going right back to the game later. Now is not the time, now is not the time..._

Cal handed me some sterile water and ointment. I was putting my wound care skills to the test right now and I cleaned it as best as I could. I got nervous when Cal snapped the glass in the tube of Dermabond and put it in my hand. This was going to sting like a bitch. I looked up at his face. He was doing stoic really well right now, but I could see the tightness around his eyes and knew he was hurting.

"Take a deep breath captain, this is going to hurt." He looked down at me and smiled. I took a deep breath and painted the glue right over the length of that nasty looking slice and felt his whole body tense up. He didn't make a peep though, and I didn't dare look at his face right now. He prided himself on his toughness and I didn't want him to feel that he looked weak around me, even if I was acting as a care provider right now. Bobby had run back to the locker room and came back with a clean jersey for him, he slipped it on right there. Play had resumed, but I wasn't quite done. I taped a dressing over the cut, more for padding than anything and Cal pronounced him ready to go. My attention was pulled back to the game when the goal horn sounded. Shit! Fucking Pissburgh had just scored while I was all distracted. With thirty seconds of play left we'll be going into overtime now.

"Fuck!" Carlos said, so pissed that they were tied. I sighed and stood up, resigned to the fact that he was going to finish out overtime at least. Espo was tapping Dagelin, Buccarello and Dom Toore for the shootout if it came to that, and he was ranting a bit about that last goal. Carlos leapt over the boards and took off, the horn sounded to signal the five minute sudden-death OT period and now that they were playing four on four it was even faster than normal. There was a shot on Hal that he poke checked and all of a sudden Carlos streaked down towards Pittsburgh's end on a breakaway, he leaned in, flicked the blade of his stick and the puck sailed right over Fleury's glove hand. Holy shit! What a wrist shot! Not only was my man hurt, but he just won the game with that one goal. Their celebration was pretty raucous with all the boys on the ice and the Ranger fans that were in the audience screaming for them. The Pittsburgh fans quietly filed out of the arena. Their team may be having a good season, but we were better. I know I shouldn't gloat but come on! That was fantastic!

We all trooped back into the locker room followed by some reporters. Carlos and Espo were the main media targets so I told Boyler, Benoit Bouliot and Brodie Richards that they needed to be on the treatment tables ASAP. We had a flight out in less than three hours and I had to rub down 6 players before then. Cal and Doc pitched in and we got everyone done pretty quickly. Carlos was my last one. The fun of having my hands on these guys had quickly dissipated with the smell in the locker room and the realization that the only sweaty man I found attractive was my honey. He sauntered over already showered and rebandaged. I hoped he hadn't cooled down too much for this to do him any good. I shook out my tired hands and sighed at the sight of him with just a little towel over his perfect ass, face down on the table. I oiled up and smoothed my hands down his back, feeling his tension slip away. I got rid of a few small knots and then worked quickly on his legs. By the time I made it back up to his neck he was dozing lightly. My poor guy! I crouched down by his face.

"Carlos." I whispered, "Baby wake up! We have to get on the bus. He opened his eyes and gave me a slow, sleepy smile. "I really want to kiss you right now." He whispered back. I looked around and there were still a few players wandering around, nobody was paying attention but I didn't want to risk it.

"Later, okay." He nodded but looked a bit miffed. He sat up pulling the towel tighter and stood and stretched, remembering the cut at the last minute and grumbling a bit about it. I snickered and went to throw all my crap in my bag.

We had less than an hour to get on the plane to Montreal. We were staying at a hotel right by the airport as we wouldn't be getting there until after 2:00 am. Whoever made up this schedule for the team was a complete dumbass! This week was killing me already and I wasn't out there on the ice every night.

I was nearly delirious by the time I got to my room and was just about to flop down face first on the bed, when there was a knock on my door. Grinning when I looked through the peep hole knowing that now I could really make sure he was okay. I yanked the door open and pulled Carlos inside. I started shoving off his coat and he made a grab for the hem of my shirt, but I slapped his hands away.

"Babe?" he sounded like a kid who had his favorite toy taken away from him.

"Nu-uh Captain, no nooky tonight. I just want to check your side."

"I'm fine. Stop fussing." I started to unbutton his shirt; he gently grabbed and held my wrists.

"I'm fine." He said deliberately.

"Let. Me. See!" I said vehemently. He sighed and let go of my hands. I finished the buttons and spread the shirt open. The difference between the lovely dark color of his skin and the stark white of the bandage was really jarring. I felt tears well up, but managed to keep them from spilling over. I gently peeled a corner of the dressing back and was relieved to see that the glue had held and he hadn't bled anymore. I had a little flashback of horror to when I saw him bleeding but had no idea how deep his injury was and I started to shake. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. Feeling the solid thumping of his heart was incredibly reassuring.

"I was really scared there for a minute you know? That really fucking sucked!" He nodded.

"I know, you turned so white I thought you were going to pass out for a minute! You were amazing though, you did a great job!" I did an amazing job? I don't think so. I pushed away slightly so I could look at him.

"Yeah...no, you did great though. I can't believe you got that shot off! It was so fast that Fleury didn't move his glove till after the puck was in the back if the net." He just grinned at my praise.

"But you better hope that it's my night off next time you get hurt, that's two times in a row that I've been on the bench and you've gotten hurt. I don't like it!"

"It's the nature of the game Steph. If it wasn't we wouldn't have met right?" I nodded reluctantly. He was right of course, but it didn't lessen my heart clenching anxiety at seeing him in that kind of pain. I laid my cheek on his chest again.

"Is it okay if I stay here tonight? The rookie is sleeping already and I don't want to sleep without you again."

"You're so smushy sometimes! Yes of course you can stay here." I pushed his shirt the rest of the way off and started working on his pants.

"I thought you said no nooky?" He said with a cocky grin.

"I did. You gonna sleep with all these clothes on? I'm just helping you not tweak that cut!" He just smirked. Given that my fingers were now ghosting softly over his beautiful abs, he probably thought that I would cave and jump him, but I really didn't want that cut to open again. We could hold out for a day or two. Well...maybe until the morning...give it some time to heal.

I set the alarm for 9:00 so Carlos could head back to his room to check on the kid. We had to have our bags downstairs and be ready to get to the Bell Center by 12:00. We were heading to Ottawa right after tonight's game.

I woke way before the alarm. Carlos was still sleeping; well most of him was still sleeping. We were spooned together and his morning wood was poking me in the butt. I giggled and shifted against him. His breathing changed and I knew he was waking up. I shifted again and felt his hand move under my shirt and settle against my belly to push me back against him. His hand drifted up and cupped my breast and I hummed. I really loved the way he touched me, he was so friggin sensual. He started planting kisses on my neck that made me shiver and caused my nipples to shrink almost painfully. He pinched one gently, making me moan.

"You like that?" He rasped in my ear.

"Umm hmmm."

He was slowly moving his hand down into my underwear. When he felt how wet I already was he groaned in my ear.

"How are you always so ready for me Babe? It drives me fucking crazy that I barely have to touch you and you're wet and ready for my cock."

_Jesus Christ! His dirty mouth..._

He tugged my panties down until I could kick them off, I reached back to try to shove his boxers down but I accidentally grazed his dressing making him gasp.

"Carlos, stop baby, you're going to hurt yourself even more." I tried to move away but his hands held me tight to him.

"Stay right where you are, believe me there are parts of me hurting right now, but my side is not one of them." He ground his erection into my backside to illustrate his point.

He held my leg up and slid a finger inside me.

"I can't wait anymore, you ready Babe?" I know I should've fought him on this, but I couldn't really think past how much I needed to feel him inside me. To answer him I pushed his boxers down enough to free him. I circled my hand around his thickness and rubbed the tip of him up and down my slit, making us both cry out. He took my hand off him and moved it so I was holding my leg up myself and he slowly pushed into me. He was the only partner I'd had that I'd allowed inside me bare. Feeling him without the dragging sensation of latex was just...unf…I was so full and the way he was moving and touching me! It sure didn't feel like we'd only been sleeping together for a week. I couldn't even remember what it was like to be with someone else. He'd completely ruined me for anyone else. He filled me not just physically, but emotionally. His almost slip up in the elevator yesterday solidified it. He was it for me; I wasn't scared to tell him anymore. I just hoped I'd heard him right, because I did; I loved him, so fucking much. He sped his movements and my mind emptied of anything other than feeling him, his perfect long fingers moved down to find my clit, he pinched it and a tingly heat flashed through me. I craned my neck back and kissed him hard as he forced me to come. He stroked me gently until I calmed, then grabbed my hips with both hands and slammed into me a few more times. He bit my shoulder lightly as he came, moaning into my skin.

I wanted to roll over and look him in the eyes when I told him, but as I went it do just that his phone rang on the bedside table. He groaned and reached for it to check the screen, smiling when he saw it was Julie.

"Sorry Babe, she wants to chat before she leaves for school." He said with a kiss to the tiny bite mark he'd left on me. He swiped the screen open and said, "Good morning baby! You all ready for school?"

_Thank god she didn't Face Time him!_

I could hear her chatting away on the other end and I looked up to see his face while he listened. He really loved that little girl; it just radiated out of him when he talked to her or when they were together. Watching him tuck her into bed the other night was so sweet it made my ovaries ache. I'd never been _there_ before. I'd been so focused on finishing school and getting a job that I'd never really thought about having children beyond the abstract knowledge that I'd like to have them one day. Any of the guys that I'd dated were definitely not procreation partner material. But this man? Definitely...one day. Not any time soon, but I could easily imagine it. And crazier still, I didn't feel any panicky freak outs emerging about that. Maybe it was his ease with Julie, and what an amazing kid he'd helped to make in her.

I remember my mom telling me a long time ago after some disastrous date, that when I met the right guy I would just know. What do you know? She was right!

RPOV

"Okay sweet girl, go get your shoes on like mom's telling you to. Have a great day in school. I'll call you before the game. I love you."

"Okay Daddy I love you too. Miss you."

"Miss you too baby. Bye." And she was gone. I had the best job on the planet, but these long road trips killed me. I wouldn't be seeing her for 5 more days. I was just about to put the phone back on the table when it buzzed in my hand.

"Damn it." Fucking Ziller! I completely forgot about him! Steph groaned and shuffled into the bathroom. I got up and hunted for my clothes as I answered my phone.

"Yeah."

"Hey Captain. Where are you? I got hungry and ordered us breakfast."

"I'll be there in 10 minutes kid."

"Okay, did you stay here last night? Your bed's still made." He was such a nosey fucker.

"I'll be there in 10." I said tersely and hung up.

I had finally located my pants and was pulling them on when Steph came back looking exhausted still. I hugged her into me and rested my chin on her head. She had this way of placing her face against my chest...the feeling of her warm breath and soft skin was so...comforting.

How could such a small person fill me up the way she did?

"I'm going to head back to my room, okay Babe?" I felt her nod. "We don't need to be on the bus till 12:00. Why don't you go back to sleep."

"Okay." She said sleepily and broke away to crawl back under the covers. Her t shirt rode up as she maneuvered and I caught another glimpse of her luscious ass.

_Mmmmmmm...shit!_

By the time I'd thrown on my shirt and shoes, she was nearly asleep. I reset the alarm for 11:00 and I leaned over to kiss her pouty mouth and said, "see you at 12 Babe". She mumbled something I couldn't make out. I stroked her cheek and she sighed. I fought with my instinct to crawl back in that bed with her and conk back out. I moved to the door and looked back at her all snug and warm.

I love you.

I was going to have to tell her very soon. It was getting way too hard to hold it in. I trudged to my room and arrived at the same time as breakfast. I could see that the kid was dying to ask me where I'd been. The look I shot him when he opened his mouth probably convinced him otherwise. He might have been very young, but he wasn't stupid. He cleared his throat.

"Umm, how do you think the game is going to go tonight?"

"I think if we play like we've been playing we're going to kick some Habs' ass. They're playing really well though so don't get too cocky. This isn't going to be an easy game." I shoved the last of my bagel in my mouth, chugged some juice and said, "I'm going to get a couple more hours sleep. It's 8:00 now so be ready to hit the hotel gym at 10:15."

"Really? You'll work out with me?" He said excitedly.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Well, you're...you know, you, and I'm..."

"Cut that shit out JT. We're all on the same team. I've just been here longer. You wouldn't be here if you weren't a good player. Okay?" He nodded. "You should probably try to sleep a little now. We'll be leaving for Ottawa right after the game tonight. At least we'll be able to sleep on the bus."

"Okay captain." I headed into my bedroom and was out cold thirty seconds later. The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. As predicted the game was really tough and we ended up losing in overtime, but at least I got to prove to Steph that she wasn't my personal injury jinx. My side ached a bit, but she'd done a great job patching me up; the glue held up really well. The atmosphere in the locker room post game was the polar opposite of last night, quiet and tense. We'd still earned one point, but during the shootout Stubban had deked at the last possible moment and Hal had moved to block half a second too soon. I wasn't going to let this get me down though, you start to let this shit get to you and before you know it team morale is in the toilet and you lose every fucking game. I was getting this team through the playoffs this year if it was last thing I did.

Steph was rubbing me down afterwards and I felt my whole body relax under her incongruously strong hands. She found a knot in my lower back and worked on that making me groan out.

"Shhh Carlos. I don't want everyone to look over here and see that I'm about three seconds from grabbing your ass." I smirked to myself, she'd told me the other day that she loved the two dimples above my butt and she was right over that spot. I felt her touch lighten and her fingers were just under the edge of the towel...and now I was getting hard.

"Babe stop! If I get up right now the few people that are still in here will see exactly what you do to me." She chuckled and moved down to my feet and she stretched out my stiff ankle and calf. Ugh that felt so fucking good!

"All done." She said slapping my towel covered ass. I really owed her an actual massage. This is the second time she'd done this for me, I know it was part of her job and everything, but I still felt like a selfish asshole.

_Hmmm maybe tomorrow_.

Only that dick, Lester was left in here with us so I came up behind her as she was packing up and pressed in close.

"After tomorrow's game. I'm going to rub _you _down Babe. Every inch of you." I whispered in her ear. She shivered and emitted a tiny moan. I looked over her shoulder and sure enough her nipples were hard little points through her shirt. Satisfied with her reaction I moved away to get dressed. We'd already decided that I wouldn't stay in her room tonight. I knew the kid wouldn't rat me out, but I didn't want to put him in the position to have to lie. We made our way to the bus and she went and collapsed next to Doc. He smiled down at her as they began to converse in French. I fucking loved hearing her slightly raspy voice speaking a language I was only vaguely familiar with. I needed to figure out a way to get her to do it while we were having sex.

_Unf! Fucking stop!_

I'd been sporting a semi since she first touched me on the damn table. I don't think McDougall needed to get an eyeful of that when I sat next to him.

"You've got it bad, huh?" He said looking back at Steph.

"Yeah I really do." I sighed.

"Does she know it?" He asked.

"How much I love her? Not yet." His mouth dropped open.

"What's wrong with you? You're so clueless sometimes. Fucking tell her. What the hell are you waiting for?" He said, sounding very pissed at me. I loved how easily she had all these guys wrapped around her finger. I was very grateful that I'd asked her out that first day. Only two guys on the team were married and one was widowed. Boyler was right, if I fucked up with her there would be a line formed behind me just waiting to convince her to go out with them. Not that she would do that, more that she could if she wanted to.

"I'm going to tell her after the game tomorrow. I wanted to wait till we were home, but it's almost slipped out twice already and I'm afraid I'll blurt it out while we're...I just want to tell her the right way."

"Ha! I know what you were going to say!" He flicked me in the forehead and I shoved him in retaliation. "There's no perfect way for that, just tell her jackass. She feels the same way, I can see it. Just tell her."

"I will." After tomorrow's game. I looked back at her, she was out cold with her head on Doc's arm. He gave me a shit-eating grin. I knew he'd engineered the seating arrangement for a reason. At least I knew she was safe with him. We'd talked earlier, and man! He was totally gone for Steph's friend Lula. I hadn't seen him like that since before his wife passed away. That had been fucking awful, he had held it together at work, but he'd come over to my place and broke down a few times towards the end of her illness. He'd felt so helpless that he couldn't heal her. That was three years ago. He was much better now, but it had been a long road for him. I was really happy for him, even if he did overshare a bit too much of the "date" he'd had with Lula. I grinned back at him and tried to get a little more comfy. We had at least two more hours till we were in Ottawa.

I was jolted awake when the bus stopped in front of the hotel; we all stumbled out and grabbed our crap. Thankfully our travel coordinator had gone ahead of us and checked us in. I could feel that Steph was right behind me and I so wanted to take her to my room and just bury myself in her. I'd never experienced this kind of physical need to be connected with someone before, like it was essential for survival. It was up there with food and water and air. Elemental in its necessity.

_Christ! I was hard again and I hadn't even touched her!_

Seven of us got on the same elevator together when all I needed was to be alone with my Babe. When we got to our floor everyone but Steph got off. I looked at her as the doors closed and motioned for her to call me. I don't know if she saw that though as her eyes were fixed on my crotch. I called her as soon as I was locked in my bedroom in our suite; hopefully the rookie was already sleeping.

"Hi." She sighed.

"Hey Babe, what're you doing?" I could hear the movement of cloth against the phone.

"I'm putting on one of your shirts and I'm going to collapse. I'm so fucking tired. The next road trip better not be back to back like this. I can't even remember where we are right now!"

"Ottawa. What shirt?" I really needed a visual on this.

"The one you had on under a button down the other day. You left it at my house and I packed it so I could give it back to you, but now you're there and I'm here...I just wanted to wear it, it still smells like you. Sorry, I should have given it to you already." It was on the tip of my tongue, just burning to come out.

_Tell her tomorrow, tell her tomorrow. _

I wanted to be able to make love to her after I told her. Over the phone felt cowardly and besides I was absurdly turned on thinking about one of my shirts over her nearly naked body.

"What else?" I blurted as I stripped.

"What?"

"What else do you have on?"

_Please play along? _

I was so hard it was starting to hurt and if I couldn't be in her I could at least have her voice wrapped around me while I got myself off.

"Absolutely nothing." Her voice had dropped a full octave. She really had no idea how fucking sexy she was.

"Shit! Really? Do you have any clue how hard I am right now? It's been nearly a whole day since I've been inside you and it's fucking killing me that you're one floor away."

"Carlos, I need to feel you touching me." She purred. I squeezed my dick trying to quell the ache there...

"Talk to me Babe, tell me where you want me to touch you." The tiny mewl that she let out nearly had me redressing and sprinting to her room.

"Mmmmm, my face, my throat, my breasts…my stomach, my pussy." She was whispering and I heard a door open and close on her end but didn't think much of it.

Oh my god, she was killing me. My hand was no longer squeezing, it was pumping up and down now. I was fucking desperate.

"Carlos, go open your door."

"What?" What?

"Hurry up and open your door, I don't want to knock and wake anybody up."

_Oh god!_

I grabbed the bathrobe that was hanging by the closet, threw it on and ran for the door. I pulled it open and gripped her around the waist lifting her against me and devouring her lips with mine. I carried her into the bedroom with her legs locked around me and relocked the door. She'd thrown on her coat over my shirt, but it had ridden up when she wrapped her legs around me so I had her naked ass cheeks in my hands and she was grinding against me. My robe had opened a little and she was trying to get my cock inside of her, I could feel how wet she was on my stomach. It was such an aphrodisiac to feel how much I turned her on. I peeled her coat off and laid her down while she attacked my neck and chest. I pushed that shirt up and off. I needed to see every inch if her. I made to move down to lick her delicious pussy, but she stopped me by grabbing my hair and locking eyes with me.

"Carlos, what you can do with your tongue is fucking fantastic, but if you don't put that fat cock in me right fucking now, I'm going to explode. Just. Fuckin. Fuck. Me."

"Holy shit! Yes ma'am." I was going to marry this woman one day, just you see. I was already straddling one of her thighs so I shimmied up till we were lined up and slid into her.

_Unf. Fucking tight!_

She was always very snug, but like this was just...

She bit my earlobe and reissued her order. I took it slow. I'd push hard into her then pull out almost all the way super slow. I let one hand graze down her gorgeous body. The way I was laying on her was limiting her movement so she just grabbed my ass and held my hips close to her, changing my movements till I was rubbing inside her and against her pubic bone rather than thrusting. She started getting louder so I bent and covered her mouth with mine. I could feel her climbing higher and put a little extra pressure behind my movements. I felt her nails dig into my ass and her pussy walls clamped down on me so hard I actually feared that I might never be able to do this to her again. She wailed into my mouth when she came and I pulled out of her and slammed back in over and over again, she threw her untrapped leg around my waist and the change in angle ripped my climax right out of me. I buried my face into the pillow to the side of her head and yelled into it. I fell to the side and brought her close, chest heaving. I had no idea what I was going to do when I had to go to Sochi. If I couldn't make it 24 hours without being inside her, it was going to be really, really rough being there alone for two weeks.

"Are you staying here tonight?"

"No, this was just a booty call baby!" She giggled. For that she was getting tickled. Her sides were her most ticklish so I attacked them big time. She was laughing so hard that no sound was coming out and tears were leaking out. The happiness shone out of her like a beacon. Damn, she was so fucking beautiful.

_Tomorrow, tomorrow. Not now! _

I gave her a reprieve and she pulled in huge breaths trying to regain her equilibrium. That massive smile was still firmly in place.

"Stay here tonight?" I'd beg if I had to.

"I didn't bring any clothes with me. I don't think me sneaking out of your room when your teammates are awake and moving around, while wearing only your t-shirt and a coat will make Espo real happy. You can stay in my room tomorrow night right?" I looked down at her and stroked her cheek.

"Try to stop me." I said as I kissed her pouty lips again. The kiss turned serious and I started to get hard again, when she broke it off to yawn. Not a dainty little yawn either, it was one of those whole body shuddering, jaw cracking yawns. I patted her ass,

"C'mon babe, I'll walk you back to your room. You need some sleep." She opened her mouth to protest but yawned again.

"Fine, can you find where you flung that shirt while I go clean up?" She scooted off the bed and I couldn't have peeled my eyes off her retreating backside for anything.

_I wonder if she knows she has those dimples too?_

I found my shirt for her and dug out a clean pair of workout shorts from my suitcase for her, they would be really big on her, but they had a drawstring that should make them stay up at least. She emerged and grabbed the shirt.

"Wait let me just..." With my hand splayed on her firm belly I bent down and quickly pulled her tight little nipple into my mouth. She groaned and held me to her and complained when I let go.

"I didn't think that you were a cruel man, but that was fucked up if you're just going to leave me at my door."

"I am, but only because I have big plans for tomorrow night and I want you to be well rested." I couldn't resist giving her one more little tweak. She slapped my hand away and pulled the shirt the rest of the way down.

"Stop fucking teasing me. I need to get some sleep, let's go."

The next day was rough. We were all exhausted from traveling and back to back games. We managed an amazing game though considering our fatigue and beat the Senators 4-2. We didn't have a game the next day so pretty much everyone hit the bar next to our hotel. Someone had told the rookie that the legal drinking age was 19 in Ontario and he was overjoyed at being able to drink. He'd scored 2 of our 4 goals, so I let it go and just asked him to take it easy on the beer. Canada was a hockey obsessed country so it was not a surprise to find a contingent of women follow us into the bar. We were all wearing game day suits so Steph had run up to her room to change into something less casual than the t-shirt/track pant ensemble she'd been sporting today. Even in that she was a thousand times sexier than these puck bunnies that were milling around. If was fucking freezing out there and they were wearing very little. I saw one make a beeline to the kid and I watched to see what he'd do. We'd all warned him, but he was technically an adult so I wasn't going to intervene. I was, however, going to make sure he had condoms. These girls were known for their determination to screw as many players as possible, I didn't want him going home with an itchy dick and a prescription for antibiotics. His mother would be pissed at me.

I was sitting at the bar nursing my one beer for the night waiting for Steph to arrive, when someone sat on the stool I was saving for her. I turned to tell them it was taken to find a very young woman, of maybe 20 at most, staring back at me. She was cute and she made me think of Julie. I don't know why but I looked over at Ziller and saw that the girl that had approached him had meandered off.

_Hmmmm. _

The girl next to me looked very sweet and she wasn't dressed like a slut either. She had on a Rangers shirt and jeans.

"You're Carlos Manoso right?" She said excitedly. She wasn't trying for demure, she was genuinely excited to see all of us.

"Yep." I shook her hand

"Jeanne Ellen, I'm such a big fan. Wow! This is so great. I was at the game and holy crap! you guys played so well. That second goal of Ziller's! He's such an amazing player. I've had such a crush on him since you guys called him up from Hartford...I can't believe I just said that to you! I'm sorry! I'm going to shut up now!" She looked mortified that she'd said that, I couldn't help but smile at this kid. I was definitely going to introduce her to JT; she was a sweetie, perfect for him.

I felt that tingle and knew Steph was here. I turned to find her and she was standing at the door looking really sexy in red and staring daggers at the girl sitting next to me. I waved her over and introduced them, "Steph, this is Jeanne Ellen, she was at our game tonight and was _really_ impressed with the rookie. I was just about to introduce them, what do you think?" Steph looked slightly less homicidal and the girl just gaped at me.

"Hey JT! Come over here kid." I yelled over to him.

"No, no! Oh my god! I'm going to say something really stupid I just know it!" Jeanne whispered. Steph was grinning ear to ear by now, as was I.

He ambled over, straightening to his full height when he noticed the pretty young thing sitting next to me. Steph was full on giggling and trying to muffle it with her hand. JT and Jeanne were just staring at each other.

"JT Ziller, this is Jeanne Ellen, she's just told me she really liked your second goal today." His chest puffed out a bit.

"Yeah? It was a tough one but I'm pretty proud of it." He said to her.

I left them to it and turned to my Babe. She moved in closer, "that was some pretty skillful wing-manning there, she was looking so star-struck at you I thought I might have to kick her ass!" She said quietly. I kind of loved that she was jealous, though I'd never give her reason to be. I did think we needed to work on trusting each other though, I had to endure the way my teammates looked at her every day and I felt a twinge of anger every time. We all were propositioned a lot though so I was going to have to give her time to get used to it.

"She was just looking for an introduction. She's a sweet young kid Babe. Usually they're a lot worse. I'm going to keep telling you till you get it. You're the only one for me, I'm going to need you to trust me okay?" She immediately protested.

"Please don't think I don't trust you, I do. It's just crazy to see someone enamored with my boyfriend. Believe me she was starry-eyed over you too." I just shook my head and slid my hand around her waist pulling her between my legs. We were eye-to-eye like this, and I didn't give a fuck about what Espo said. We weren't having some dirty affair. I had nothing to hide and I wanted everyone to know that this gorgeous woman was with me. That she was mine. I pulled her even closer and kissed her softly, she moaned and plastered herself against me and kissed me back with so much emotion that my heart was pounding when she finally pulled away. I realized that everyone that didn't know were staring at us all agog. They were silent for a second and then started hooting and hollering and shouting "way to go Captain!"

I had to get us out of here. I looked over at the rookie and he was busy making googly eyes at Jeanne. Good, he was taken care of for now.

"Ready to go?" I asked Steph. She stepped back and tugged on my hand, she looked as anxious to leave as I felt.

"Call me if you need me." I said to JT as I was leaving.

"Yeah." He said distractedly. I pulled him aside, "do you have protection?" He swallowed hard and nodded. "Good, use it okay?"

"I don't think..." He hedged. I cut him off, "Just be careful, she's a nice girl."

"I know. She really is." He said looking back at her. She smiled dreamily at him. I snickered and looked at Steph and she mouthed "so cute!" to me.

I got nervous on the way to her room, I hadn't said these words to anyone but my daughter in a long time. I didn't know how I was going to get them out without sounding corny.

"What's wrong Carlos?" She said after she closed the door. I was having trouble forming words, so I cupped her face and kissed her gently. She responded like she always does and pulled me close till there wasn't an inch if space between us.

"I wanted to wait until…we were back home to tell you this...but it keeps almost slipping out and I don't really know what to do with it all. And you're so...just so...you're it for me Steph. I already can't see my life without you in it. I think about you all the time, even when I'm playing. I want to take you places, I can't wait for the season to be over so we can go on vacation and we can spend the whole time together."

_What a smooth motherfucker I am! _

"What I'm trying to say is that I love you. I am so in love with you Stephanie." I finally shut up and looked at her.

She was frozen, like deer in the headlights kind of frozen.

The next thing I knew she had tackled me to the bed and was kissing all over my face.

"I fucking love you Carlos." _Kiss, kiss, kiss, _"So much! I can't even wrap my head around it." _Kiss, kiss, kiss. _"Sometimes I feel like my heart's going to explode with it."

**AN: I had to end it there, as the next part is looooong! I was going to cliffy if because of that, but thought that would be too mean! Expect Ranger's Rangers to have the most wins in NHL history after this. I write that they lose one game and my boys lose a crucial game in real life. In everything but hockey I am an empiricist. In hockey I am a one superstitious woman!**

**Review and let me know what you thought?**

**EA xoxox**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: So…I got two reviews about the level of profanity in this story. F-bombs are really very commonplace in hockey, well, sports in general really. If you search You tube for 'Bruce Boudreau locker room speech w counter' and 'John Tortorella angry at his team' (Torts is my model for Espo), you'll see what I mean. I didn't think that it was being used to the point where it was damaging the story. I tried to leave it out, but found that in censoring potty mouth Manoso, he became very difficult to write. **

**Some smutty fluff to start off with.**

**You were right Minerla it was time…**

**There's a lot of hockey talk down there. It doesn't get too technical though.**

**Woops I forgot last time, but most of these characters belong to the amazing JE. Sadly I don't own Madison Square Garden or the Rangers that play there either. This plot, though, is all mine.**

SPOV

Did he really just say that before me? He loves me? I mean I know he almost said it the other day, but hearing it put out there, out loud. Holy shit! He loves me!

I guess I took him by surprise when I jumped on him because he ended up on his back with me on top of him. I couldn't stop kissing him.

"I fucking love you Carlos, so much. I love you so much that my heart feels like it's going to explode." I said between kisses. "Say it again? Please?" I begged.

He lifted his head from the mattress and held my face with both hands, looking me in the eye he said, "I love you Steph. I feel like I can't get close enough to you, like I can't touch you enough, kiss you enough. I love you." He kissed me then, with so much emotion that I ached with it. Nothing mattered more right now than feeling him warm and hard inside me. I needed to look into his beautiful eyes, feel his heaviness over me, in me, feel the sweat gather on his back as we worked to make each other feel something that no one else could. Joe was right when he said that this man could break me if he chose to. I've never subscribed to the notion that a woman _needs_ a man. But he had changed all that for me. I didn't need him for financial security or protection. I needed him because he'd become essential to my happiness. In such a short time he'd become everything to me. I was vulnerable, but I didn't feel weak in that vulnerability, it was wonderful to place that level of trust in such a great man. I knew he'd never intentionally hurt me, nor I him.

I smoothed my fingertips over his gorgeous face, and his eyes fluttered closed. I kissed his smiling mouth, his chin, his thick, strong neck. I slowly unknotted his tie and pulled it free of his collar and worked on his shirt buttons. Every time I slipped one little disc free of its confines I kissed the skin that the enlarged opening exposed. He really had the most beautiful skin. Women paid ridiculous sums of money to have a complexion like his. He was a deep golden tan indicating his Cuban heritage and lustrously smooth and firm. And the body encased within that wrapping…he was so physically perfect. The size of him! I loved that when we stood together I had to look up to see his face. I loved that he was such a good dad and that he was still very good friends with his ex. I loved how he didn't even realize how his teammates venerated him or how much his fans adored him. But most of all I loved that his heart was so gentle, that off the ice he would never hit someone, well, except to protect or defend someone. I loved that such toughness resided in him, yet like most hockey players he was a total teddy bear.

I had kissed my way down to his belt by now, I noticed that his stomach clenched as I smoothed my hand over the fly of his pants. I looked at his face to see him looking straight at me, eyes black and lips parted, breathing heavy.

"I love you." I said as I slid his zipper down, you know, just in case he forgot in the last two minutes. I pulled his cock free of his boxers and licked around the head. He was hot and pulsing in my hand. I sucked the salty bead of fluid from the tip and his eyes rolled back. His hands landed on my jaw and his thumbs rested at the corners of my lips, where they traced tiny circles. He really loved getting head, I mean he's a guy, c'mon they all love it. But, Carlos was so tender in the way he touched me when I did it for him, reverent. He never forced himself deeper than I could take him, but he always put his hands on my face so he could feel it there too. I loved that he would touch me during; It really got me revved up. I sucked him into my mouth and he groaned deeply, his fingers slipped into my hair and held me gently. I sucked hard and moved my mouth up and down his thick shaft a few times before he stopped me.

"Babe, stop. Please! I don't want to come like this." I really didn't want him to either, so I slowly let him go. He sat up and kissed me deeply. Swirling his tongue in my mouth, he started to work on my top, never letting go of my lips. He gently slipped the shirt off my shoulders and trailed his fingertips down my arms pushing the fabric away. He ran his fingers against my pebbled skin and drew back to look at me.

"Cold?"

"No." The way I involuntarily reacted to him was still shocking to me. When we first met I felt a hum whenever our skin contacted. Now that hum had sharpened into a bone deep sensation and the warm knowledge that I loved this man.

He wrapped one hand around me and splayed it on my back while the other held my neck. The way he looked at me while he held me like that brought tears to my eyes with intensity of it all.

"I love you Steph." Okay, now I was in serious danger of sobbing and ruining all this sweetness. He kissed me again then pulled me off the bed to ease my skirt off. I'd never been into fancy lingerie, it's generally hideously uncomfortable and expensive, but the look on his face when he had me undressed was worth the price. I'd gone simple with white lace, but knowing he liked my behind I'd opted for cheeky panties.

"Turn around Babe." He said hoarsely. I turned slowly and heard him groan. Smiling to myself I turned back to face him, "What's wrong?" He didn't answer only pulling me till we were joined from knees to chest and palming both ass cheeks.

"Does that mean you like the undies Captain?"

"Yeah, you could say that." He smoothed his hands under them and pushed them down, holding my hand while I stepped out of them. He slowly took my bra off, never taking his eyes off mine.

"This though, is best." He said while running his hands all over my bare body. He cupped my face again and kissed me deeply. I pushed his shirt the rest of the way off and tugged off his pants and underwear. I rose up on my toes to kiss him back and rested my hands on his behind. Feeling his warm body against mine was unbelievably comforting.

"I love you Carlos. I can't believe it took me even this long to tell you."

"Me too Babe, me too." He eased me down onto the bed and settled himself over me. We kissed and touched for what felt like hours and when he finally pushed inside me, he triggered a climax so strong that I saw stars.

He slowly made love to me that night, telling me over and over again how much he loved me. It was like some invisible dam had burst and those words that we'd been choking on couldn't be held back anymore.

After his morning call to Julie we went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Some of the team and staff had made it down as well. We all meandered around the buffet, laughing and joking. I could tell at first that some were unsure how to broach the topic of Carlos and me, but we sat together and kept the PDA to a bare minimum so the awkwardness of it soon dissolved. I spied JT at a table in the corner with the girl from the bar and nudged Carlos under the table with my foot.

"The baby's a man now!" I giggled.

"Yeah…I don't know Babe; he's from a hockey town. He's probably been getting laid since he was a freshman in high school.

_Oh? We haven't talked about this yet._

"Really? How old were you when you handed in your v card?" I could tell he was fighting not to smile too big. He was way too good at getting me off to think he's only been with his ex-wife.

"15." He said biting his lip. No doubt he was waiting for me to get annoyed, but considering I was only 16 when I lost my virginity I just couldn't get mad at my sex god of a boyfriend for one measly little year.

"That's not so bad." His eyebrows shot up.

"Not so bad? If I caught Julie at that age doing anything more than a quick peck on the lips with a boy…Well…shit, I don't want to think about it. Wait a minute…How old were you?"

"16." I said with a shrug.

"Huh."

"What huh?"

"Well…that's kinda young, no?"

_He's kidding right?_

"You're kidding me right? How old was the girl you lost it to?"

"19." He said with a grin.

"Is that even legal? What a stud you were baby." The grin grew.

"Hey Captain, Steph," Boyler interrupted us; "Espo said he wants us in the gym in an hour."

"Thanks Brandon." Carlos said, and then turned back to me. "We probably should've talked about this before we started sleeping together Babe. I didn't mean to sound judgy just then…alright hit me with your number." You should've seen his face! He was all scrunched up and apprehensive. I didn't know whether to be flattered that he was so impressed by my sexual prowess that he thought I was 'experienced' or pissed that he might be cringing because he thought my number was astronomical.

"Six." I said after a bit of deep breathing.

His eyes sprang open, "That's it?"

"Yes, I don't think that's a very small number Carlos, but I was in a relationship with every one of them. What about you?" He looked suspiciously sheepish.

"Ummm, well keep in mind that I was a very horny kid, Steph…"

_Oh god, how high can his number be? He met his ex when they were19 or 20!_

"Twenty-five." He said with a wince.

"Jeez baby it's a good thing that I knew you were clean from your records." He looked offended. "C'mon! That means that you had sex with twenty-four women in the four years between popping your cherry and meeting your ex-wife!"

"Well, when you put it that way, yeah I was kind of a whore. That was then though. Now I'm your whore Babe." He said with that friggin smile. If all our stars lined up, that grin would be getting him out of trouble with me for a very long time.

A mini muffin sailed through the air and hit him on the cheek; I looked for the culprit and saw McDougall looking everywhere but at us on the other side of our table. I excused myself before a full-scale food fight could erupt. Carlos grabbed my hand and pulled me back to where he was still sitting making me bend so he could speak in my ear.

"I love you…you're not mad at me are you?" I shook my head. "Why are you leaving without giving me a kiss then?" He said with a pout. He was so cute sometimes.

I gave him a quick, soft kiss and moved back to his ear.

"I love you too, believe me, I'll tell you when I'm mad at you." He just smiled.

I ran back to my room to get ready for the gym session. Two more days and we'd be home. We were flying to Nashville this afternoon, we had one more game tomorrow afternoon and then we all had the next four days off. Monday was Nutcracker day and I was really apprehensive about meeting Rachel. Carlos had Julie for Christmas eve on Tuesday; he'd asked if I wanted to come to his family's celebration that night. I was kind of intimidated to meet his entire family in one go like that, but I guess it was as good a time as any. He was coming home with me to meet my mom and grandma Mazur on Christmas day. I groaned thinking about the upcoming week, It felt like it was going to be more stressful than this week; at least most of my shopping was done. I still had to buy for him, but I knew exactly what I was getting for him so…

My phone rang as I was zipping my suitcase, I grimaced when I saw that it was Joe, we'd talked a few times since our little disagreement, but it was still a bit strained.

"Hey" I said tentatively.

"Hey cupcake, how's Canada?" He sounded…chirpy?

"Freezing, we've barely gotten out of the hotel! Did you watch last night?"

"Yep, I saw you on the bench too, that was pretty cool. Manoso had a good game huh? You his little good luck charm?" He sounded like his old self. Teasing me good naturedly.

"Yeah they kicked ass, you wouldn't believe how tiring all this traveling is for them. At least today they don't have to play, but we do have to fly to Nashville in a few hours. I have some stories for you when we get back."

"I saw you fixing him up after that skate blade thing. That was really impressive Steph. You really handled that well!" Something's up here! He's always been supportive, but he's never been gushy before.

"Joe, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" He said evasively.

"What's with all the 'good job kid' stuff?"

"Well I'm proud of you is all. Can't I be proud of you?"

"Of course you can, but it feels like there's something else going on here."

"Okay…it's just that I was such an asshole to you last week that I feel like a dick, and I need to ask a favor of you. But, I meant every word I said Cupcake. I am, I'm proud of you, please don't doubt that." He sounded so serious.

"What do you need?"

"I need you to go ring shopping with me." I screamed so loud I think he dropped the phone. "Jeez, Steph! My ears! I'm going to ask Emma to marry me."

"Oh my god Joe, I'm so happy for you! Really?"

"Yeah, I love her, and for some reason she loves me, so…"

"When are we going?"

"We can talk on Christmas; we're coming to your mom's for dessert."

"I'm so happy for you Joe; she's going to say yes, you know that right." I heard him blow out a happy sigh, "Yeah, I know, I'm a lucky bastard."

"Yes you are honey!"

"How's loverboy?"

"Really, really, good…" I trailed off, unsure whether this would start that argument back up.

"What?"

"He told me he loves me last night."

"Seriously? Holy shit that was fast! And what did you say? Did you tell him back?"

"Yeah I told him. It was a really good night!" He whistled through his teeth.

"This is big stuff Cupcake! Who'd have thought we'd both be in serious relationships like this?" I thought about that for a minute. Wow! This was the first time we'd both been in a relationship at the same time. And now my former slut of a best friend was getting married, well, he had to ask first, but she was going to say yes. No doubt about it.

"Okay, on that note I have to go before I start crying on the phone. I love you Joe and I'm very happy for you. I'll see you in a few days."

"Kay Steph. I love you too. Tell him I said good luck tomorrow and that if he hurts you, I'm a homicide detective and I know where to dump his body where it will never be found." I giggled.

"Shut up moron. I'll see you Christmas day."

"Bye! Travel safe."

I'd finally managed to get out of my room and make my way down to the gym when I bumped into Espo.

"Hey Steph. You heading down to the gym too?" He asked.

"Yeah, I need to check out Rigardi's shoulder and Boyler's thumb." He nodded.

"Doc said you have a great rehab plan worked out for Taylor? How much longer do you think he'll be out?"

"I'll have to see how much muscle he lost and then we'll go from there. Definitely not until after the Olympic break." He stopped and turned to face me.

"Okay look…I know about you and Manoso. Did he tell you we spoke?" I nodded. "I also distinctly told him to keep it quiet, which apparently he didn't hear and mauled you in the bar last night. Ordinarily it would be none of my business who the guys are dating, but he's the player that all the guys look to for leadership and you work within the organization. They all respect him and he keeps them going. I'm just the guy who comes in and yells and curses at them. He's the glue that holds this team together. I'm going to ask you to keep being as professional as you've been and I'm not saying it will, but if something goes bad between you, keep it civil okay." I started to protest but he kept going with his hand up. "Please? I'm not wishing anything bad on you guys because I've never seen him this happy. I think that you two are really good for each other."

"Okay I think I can agree to that. Thanks for not screaming at me like you do to them sometimes." He was famous for his between period rants. He just grinned, "Nah, if I did that Carlos would kick my ass from one end of the ice to the other. Don't think I didn't know he was just waiting for the opportunity to knock Cosby on his ass the other day. I should've been pissed he did that, but you're part of the team too Steph and no dirty Penguin should be flirting with you. Cocky asshole. We defend our own."

"Awww Espo! Careful I'm very emotional today!" He looked horrified at the idea I might cry. "I was kidding, relax. Seriously though thanks, that means a lot to me."

He patted my shoulder and walked into the hotel gym. Carlos was running on a treadmill and looked concerned when he saw me come in with the coach. I just smiled at my man and headed over to check Rigardi out.

RPOV

When I saw Steph and Espo walk in together, I thought maybe he'd been giving her a hard time about the bar last night, but when she gave me her 'I'm so happy I could burst' smile I figured everything was okay. We all got in a looooong workout. We wouldn't get any ice time until tomorrow morning, so we needed to make up for not being on the rink today. I watched Steph flit around the room. I marveled again at how in just two weeks she had made every one of these guys adore her. She was already doing way more work than her job description required, like right now she was helping our other rookie John Noore refine his weight lifting technique. Cal had already extoled her virtues to me. He had been a combat medic in Iraq and it's rumored that he once had a massive tattoo on his forehead that has since been removed. Cal does not impress easily and even he was enamored of my amazing girlfriend. I was going to miss her on the bench tomorrow, but she'd more than earned a night off. She would still be at the game at least.

_I am a lucky bastard!_

I was just going to have to keep repeating that to myself until I really got it. This amazing woman loved me. Even before I met her I thought my life was fantastic, between my job and my little girl I thought I had everything I could possibly need. I didn't expect to find someone like her and then to have her love me right back was just…

"Hey Captain, you all packed up and ready to head out?" Steph said interrupting my internal gushing.

"Almost. This really sexy woman kept me up late last night, so it might take me a few minutes to get my stuff together."

"Bitch! Where is she? I'll kick her ass." She said with a fake scowl, pretending to look for the offender. "Do you want me to help you? I'm all done already."

"Yeah, come on I'm all done here anyway." I rested the barbell back in the holder and hopped up, anxious for a bit more alone time with her. Even though we had the four days after tomorrow's game off we were going to be running around a lot with family introductions and everything. I guided her on to the elevator and was about to pin her to the wall when I remembered how disgustingly sweaty I was. She didn't seem to mind though as she grabbed two fistfuls of my shirt and hauled my mouth to hers and attacked me. It fucking turned me on when she did that. She was so assertive sometimes and it never failed to make me hard. I really hoped that JT stayed in the gym for a while longer. We'd separated when the doors swished open, but as soon as the hotel room door clicked shut I had her pressed up against it and was kissing the hell out of her. I was always so desperate for her. It didn't matter that I was inside her practically all night; I couldn't seem to get enough.

I wasn't sure when the kid would be back and no way was he getting an accidental peek at my Babe in any state other than fully clothed, so I backed away from her and she followed me all the way into my bathroom. We couldn't get naked fast enough. I boosted her onto the marble counter next to the sink , her face immediately screwed up and she shimmied her butt. "Arg! It's so cold!" I couldn't help but laugh at her outraged tone. She reluctantly giggled and playfully pushed me away and went to slip down.

"Nuh-uh Babe. That counter is the perfect height. I was eyeballing it just for this," I demonstrated by grinding myself against her. I looked around and saw a nice fluffy towel to put her perfect little ass on. We were both still chuckling when she was better situated but we quickly sobered when she gently ran her fingertips down the length of my cock. I couldn't have hidden the shiver she elicited if I'd wanted to.

"Oh!…Babe" She encircled me and tugged slightly, pulling me back towards her sex. I swiped my fingers through her wetness making her head droop backwards and she moaned softly. I pushed one finger inside of her and moved my thumb to her clit. God! The way she was looking at me right now just killed me. Staring at me with half closed lids and slightly parted lips…mmmm…I pulled those sexy lips to mine and kissed her deeply. We really didn't have much time, but the way she was pulsing around my fingers I knew she would come in the next few minutes at most. I dipped and kissed my way down her throat to her full breasts. Her moans were making me harder than steel but I wanted her right on the edge before I entered her. She really started to tense and I pulled my hand away and I shoved my aching dick inside her. Thankfully I'd kept my hand at the back of her head, as she arched back so forcefully that she would've smacked her head on the mirror behind her. It wasn't slow and sweet like last night. This was frantic and hard and needy. I still told her that I loved her, that I couldn't get enough of her, that I could kiss her and touch her forever and it would never get old. She had her arms and legs locked around me and was moving against me just as desperately, I knew it was the same for her too.

Twenty minutes later we were showered and I was all packed up. We stopped at Steph's room to get her stuff and headed downstairs only to get caught in the controlled chaos that surrounds getting a professional athletic team onto a plane and into another country.

We were in Nashville by dinnertime and Espo realized that if he tried to sequester us to the hotel for one more night that he would face widespread mutiny that even the medical team were talking of joining. I actually got to take my babe on a date finding a small restaurant where we had a delicious dinner and were able to just talk. She told me about going ring shopping with Joe, and his threat. I was very reluctantly starting to like this guy. She relayed to me the full story of the first time they'd played together as kids. His dad, who had been an abusive alcoholic asshole, had gone on a bender and knocked over and broken the family TV. Apparently Joe had been his favorite punching bag and the bastard had chased him all over until he slipped out of the house through the back door and took off running. He'd met up with Steph while she was out playing and asked her to hide him and so she did. Even at the age of six my Babe had relished the role of rescuer and problem solver. I hate to say it, but I was glad to hear that Joe's dad had drunk himself to death by the next year. I'd grown up in a very crowded, but very happy house. Sure we'd all fought plenty and you wouldn't cross Mama and come out of it without a smack on the rear, but we always knew that we were loved no matter what. I just couldn't imagine being truly terrified of one of my parents. It was such a horrible way to grow up.

We walked the strip for a bit, but decided more fun could be had back in the hotel room than in the packed-to-the-rafters bars there.

We were all up very early to get some practice in and actually managed to get some rest before the game. The last time we played the predators was the last time I'd been involved in a fight. Every single shift I'd had they sent their captain out against me. Shane Weber was a pretty good player, but for some reason has decided his mission in life was to piss me off every time we played against each other. He was bigger but slower than me. He hooked and slashed at me the entire fucking game and by the third period with about 2 minutes left we were up by three goals I guess he'd had enough and checked me into the boards. He dropped his gloves and I knocked him out with one punch before he even got one swing in. It was well worth the game misconduct, but I was pretty sure he'd try to retaliate today.

As soon as we skated out for today's game the crowd booed us. No matter we were just warming up. It never bothered me when the majority of the crowd was against us, our team had a pretty fair representation as far as away fans goes. Our general manager Nick Smith loved to tell us that when we played an away game the stadium sold out, even if the home team was struggling with ticket sales. Right away it was the same scenario as the last match-up had been. We dominated them in scoring and shots on goal. If Weber had concentrated more on defending his goalie rather than trying to bait me into another fight maybe they wouldn't be down by two by the end of the first period. Steph came into the locker room during intermission to check on Rigardi's shoulder since he'd tweaked it during a hit. She shot me a warning glance and then tended to him. She knew very well how much I hated that prick and I guess she saw how much he was trying to instigate another fight. The whole first and second line had been under attack in the same fashion. This was an aspect of the game that had pretty much been left in the past. We were a large team with only two guys under six foot, we didn't get picked on a whole lot. The atmosphere in here was very tense. There was no way this game was going to end without at least one ejection on our part. I knew something was up when I saw their fourth line on the ice to take the opening face-off. Boyler was center and won the puck and flipped it back to me so I could pass it to Borsett. I made the mistake of looking down for a split second and suddenly I was on my back a bit dazed but lucid enough to see that motherfucker Weber standing over me laughing like a hyena because he'd managed to get in a dirty hit. I popped up quicker than he expected and he stumbled back a bit knowing I was going to pound his ass into the ice. I'd had enough of this asshole. I noticed that everyone else had partnered up and were scuffling but not throwing punches yet. The refs were whistling and trying to separate everyone before a full scale line brawl broke out. If I let this go everything would be fine, the douchebag would get a cross-checking penalty, and we'd most likely score on the power play. If I dropped the gloves now we might end up losing the game. I turned to skate away, intent shaking it off only to hear Weber yell, "Manoso, you fucking pussy!" at me as the ref was dragging him to the penalty box. That was it! I turned and charged at him. He easily shook off the ref and took a swing at me, I ducked but he clipped me with an uppercut right after, that made my teeth clang together. I saw fucking red and grabbed the back of his jersey and clocked him in the jaw and down he went

…_huh…that was quick. _

As I was being 'escorted' to the box I noticed that all the scuffling pairs were now engaged in full blown beat-downs. I was soon joined in the box by Boyler, McDougall, Borsett and Dreider.

I scanned the other side of the ice and saw Steph staring back at me murderously. Shit! She looked even hotter like that, but she didn't look one iota turned on. I was actually glad I was all the way over here. McDougall must've noticed my face and where I was staring because he looked in that direction to whistled and said, "Dude! You are in trouble!" The others laughed at me, but I was worried that Ryan was right. I'd never seen her look this angry before.

It took them a while to sort out the penalty minutes and misconducts and to clean the blood off the ice. The timekeeper had basically been pushed into the corner as the penalty boxes are only designed for two players at most. Boyler and Dreider had bloody noses, but the tension that had abounded earlier had subsided, and they were all working hard at pretending they weren't laughing. They wouldn't be laughing when Espo got us alone, he was going to tear us a new one if this made us lose the game.

We were all given five minute majors for fighting, two minutes for roughing and game misconducts and were ejected from the game. Well that just sucked! I'd only gotten one punch in. The ref opened the box and we all trooped over to the locker room.

Steph watched each one of us pass her, stopping Dreider briefly to check his still dripping nose she was already gloved and she shoved a piece of gauze under his nostrils and instructed him to pinch his nose. Her concerned eyes flicked all over my face for a second and then the irate fierceness took back over again.

"Go." She muttered while motioning with her head. She followed me into the locker room and handed me an activated ice pack.

"I'm fine…" The glare she leveled at me shut my mouth and kind of turned me on if I was being honest. I took the ice pack and sat down while she and Doc took care of the others. Boyler's nose had already stopped, but Dreider's was still steadily dripping. She put an ice pack under his upper lip and within a few minutes the bleeding had stopped. As Doc didn't think that their noses were broken they were all instructed to go shower in cool water and to come back in.

"Not you! I need to check you out better." Steph said to me as I went to follow the others. I parked my ass back on the bench and waited for her to lay into me. She was practically vibrating by the time she sat next to me, but she gently moved my hand holding the ice pack from my chin and looked at the bruise that was probably forming there. She exhaled forcefully through her nose and I caught her eyes for a second. She looked like she was going to kill someone. I'd never seen her so pissed.

"Open, I need to see your teeth." I opened my mouth not wanting to argue with her. Frankly, I'd rather go back and fight Weber again than do that. She was pretty formidable for her size. If we had kids she would probably be the enforcer…

_Did I really just think that?_

"Your teeth look okay, but you have a big bruise forming, is it sore?" She said through clenched teeth.

"No, it's not bothering me."

"Doc may want to have it x-rayed when we get back."

"I don't think that…" She held up a hand.

"Carlos, stop! We'll discuss it later…" She stopped when we heard the buzzer signaling the end of the second period. She moved away and started picking up the discarded gauze and gloves that were lying on the floor. Espo's reaction could go one of two ways. He might be steaming if I'd fucked up the game or pleased that we'd defended ourselves.

They trooped in silent and stone faced. Espo followed them in eyes on his shoes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well…That was a clusterfuck…At least you all won your fights. Manoso, I can't fucking believe you went after that fucking moron. If you'd left it as it was we would've had the power play.

"As it is, we are still up two zip. We won't be seeing these clowns for the rest of the season, so I need the rest of you guys to get back out there and play D. You block shots. I don't give a shit if it hurts. Get between that puck and Henrikson as much as you can. We cannot relax yet. This is not over. Fucking play as hard as you can." He finished on a yell and stomped out of there.

_Well that could've been a lot worse._

We ended up winning despite the fight, but Steph barely spoke to me on the way home. I thought maybe it was best to let her calm down for a while so I tried not to bother her. At least, not until we were behind her door where she could yell at me in private. We carted our bags up to her place even though I was no longer sure if she wanted me to stay over. I put everything down next to her couch and turned to face her, her back was against the inside of her front door and she was staring right at me, and she didn't exactly look pissed off anymore.

_Uh-oh!_

**Hope you all enjoyed it. Let me know?**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: This got so away from me that I had to cut RPOV short. A lot is going on in this chapter though, so I hope you don't feel slighted. I've started working on another story as well, but I won't be posting that until it's completely written (well mostly anyway!). Put me on author alert if you're interested in reading that one next. Finishing this is my priority right now though.**

**Sadly, I own absolutely none of the recognizable characters or places in this little story. They all belong to their respective owners. This plot, however, is all mine.**

SPOV

Never had one stupid promise cost me so much.

I'd promised that I would act like a professional and less than four hours later I was confronted with that...display, on the ice.

I've seen countless fights over the decades that I've been a hockey fan, some even involving Carlos and I've never had a physical reaction like the one I had watching that fight. First seeing that goon Weber knocking down my man with a dirty hit made me more angry than I have ever been in my life. I actually got a little caught up in mentally plotting his torture. I could see Carlos battling with himself over getting into a fight with the stupid asshole. Was this guy a glutton for punishment or what? I mean the last time they had a confrontation Carlos had only hit him once and he got knocked out. I thought he was going to let it go until that moron called him a pussy. I know I've said that one of his most attractive qualities is his gentle spirit, but apparently my girl parts get very excited by his fierceness and rage. I was feeling such a strange combination of protective fury and bone vibrating lust that I could barely speak. I know he thought I was pissed at him, but I was just incapable of articulating what I was feeling, and yeah, I'd promised I would be a professional, so I thought it best to hold it in and show him when we got home.

I stood pressed to the inside of my door watching him turn around. His expression changed when he got a good look at me and he strode over to me determinedly. I knew he finally caught onto the true nature of my mood. We'd had sex so many times over this trip that I was actually sore, but if I didn't feel him against me, in me, very soon, I really felt like I was going to die. I'd felt a lot of lust lately, but this was like I took all of it and balled it up inside of me and it was threatening to burst out any second.

As soon as he was within my reach I grabbed his shirt and hauled him against me. I pretty much climbed his body until I could attack his sexy lips, he leaned into me and all of a sudden I found my voice.

"Baby, that was so fucking hot! I just wanted to rip off your equipment and ride you right there in the locker room. It was so hard not to..."

"Jesus Babe! I thought you were mad at me." He had me pinned to the door with his hips so I frantically shoved off his jacket and yanked his shirt up. He reached back and pulled it the rest of the way off with one hand.

"Please don't do that to me again Steph. I was worried all the way home, believe me, if I knew you were horny I would've found somewhere for us to go to get you all calm again." My shirt sailed over his shoulder and he plucked at the front clasp of my bra. It popped open and it too joined my shirt. His big hands palmed my breasts almost too roughly and I moaned into his neck and nipped his skin there.

"Carlos please! I need...now!" I whimpered.

"Tell me what you need Babe." He asked rubbing against me.

"Oh...I need to come, please!" He backed away and allowed me to slide down his body. He fiddled with the button on my pants but couldn't make it open, frustrated he gave it a yank and it gave with a plink and rolled across the room. He sank to his knees and pulled off my shoes and socks. My pants and soaked panties joined the other clothes strewn about. He looked up at me for a second then took a slow deliberate lick of my aching pussy.

"Oh my god...please baby." He didn't make me beg anymore but dove in, he smoothed his hands up the back of my thighs and hitched one of my legs over his shoulder. He kept me pressed against his mouth by holding my cheeks in his hands, like I was going to run away from the amazing things he was doing to me right now. He didn't tease me, he concentrated his lips and tongue on my clit and had me climbing so high so fast. The only thing I could think of was the intense heat that was building inside of me, threatening to detonate. My fingers were entwined tightly in his short hair but rather than complaining I could feel him moaning softly against me. He was getting me there fast, I was climbing higher and higher and when he changed his rhythm slightly my climax ripped through me and my head fell back against the door with a thud. He stood as I watched through droopy eyes trying to regain my breath, he looked like I felt earlier. He yanked at the button fly of his jeans and shoved them down, he lifted me against the door and thrust into me all in one move. Holy hell he was so intense right now! He pounded into me until we were in a sweaty heap on the floor.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love your face when you come?" I asked breathlessly. He chuckled at my question. "No really! I mean you're the best looking man I've ever met, but when you come? I don't think I can describe it properly Carlos." I stroked his stubbly cheek. "I love you." I said and kissed him deeply. "That fight did something to me, when that asshole knocked you down, I swear my heart felt like it stopped. I had to sit on my hands to not run right out there and beat the bastard, and then I thought you were going to let it go and then he said that to you and the look of your face when you turned around!...I can't believe that seeing you punch someone turned me on that much, because you're usually so sweet and gentle...okay, I'm going to shut up now." He laughed again.

"Don't tell me things like that Steph, I'll get into a fight every game just so we can do what we just did over and over again." I kissed him again then managed to extricate myself from the tangle of limbs we were in.

"No! Save that for special occasions. You nearly pounded me into the door!" He looked stricken and jumped up.

"Did I hurt you? Holy shit! Turn around let me see!" I rolled my eyes but turned so he could see I was fine. He smoothed his hands down my back and ended with a gentle squeeze to my butt.

"You have red marks of my finger prints on your ass. This may be a little barbaric but I'm getting hard again." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"C'mon stud, let's shower and go to bed." He slipped his arms around my waist and kissed my neck.

"I've been waiting my whole life for you to say that to me." He murmured in my ear. I could hear the smile in his voice. "I love you Babe."

He left early the next morning to pick up Julie and I finally retrieved Rex from my neighbor. She said he had a fantastic time running on his wheel in a new environment. After a lengthy recap of my trip and some special treats for being such a good boy while I was gone, I headed to the men's boutique on Houston and the tech store next door to get Carlos' Christmas present. I really hoped he liked all of it.

I sped home and got ready for our matinee showing of the nutcracker. Despite Carlos' assurances, I was still a bit anxious about Rachel's opinion of me. I didn't want her to think that I was trying to buy myself favor with Julie with the tickets.

I pulled out a purple knit wrap dress and nude high heels. It was really cold out but Carlos had arranged a car to take us out to Brooklyn so I didn't bother with hose. I put my hair up and was putting the finishing touches on my makeup when the bell rang. I grabbed my coat and hot-footed it downstairs, stomach fluttering that I was about to meet the woman he'd been married to.

_Oh my god! This has to be the worst idea I've ever had. _

I opened the door to the delicious sight of him in a beautiful black suit. I was getting used to seeing him dressed up as he was in a suit on game days, but this one was especially drool-worthy. My man had a very good tailor somewhere. He looked me up and down, eyes lingering on my shoes for a second. He smiled and took my hand and kissed me lightly, no doubt in deference to the little girl in the party dress holding his other hand.

"You look beautiful Steph." He said.

"Mmmmhmmm, you too." I bent a little to talk to Julie. "Hey peanut! You look very pretty. Is this the dress you were telling me about?" She nodded animatedly and gave me a big hug.

"Mommy says I have to be careful not to spill anything on this because I have to wear it to see Abuelita tomorrow." She was so damn cute! I just wanted to squeeze her. A tall, beautiful woman unfolded herself from the car. She wore a guarded smile, but hey, a smile is a smile right? She held out her hand.

"Hi Stephanie, Rachel Manoso."

_Ooookkaaayyyy…_

Okay, I'll admit it; I felt a pang that she hadn't changed her name. Did that mean she wasn't ready to let him go? Carlos told me she was in a serious relationship, so maybe she kept the name for Julie's sake?

"I'm so glad that you're coming today." I said with as natural a smile as I could manage. I meant it too. She intimidated the hell out of me, but Julie looked so pleased to have us all there.

_Oh shit! What if this was giving the poor kid hope that her mom and dad were getting back together?_

This was starting to feel like a mistake of monumental proportions. I felt panic welling up inside at the idea. Carlos tugged on my hand and kept me outside of the car when Julie and her mom climbed in.

"What's wrong? You look like you're about to start hyperventilating." He looked at me with concern.

"Nothing, everything's fine." This wasn't the time to get into this.

"Babe, don't give me that line of shit. I know what worried looks like on you. We're going to have a good day. Rachel's excited to meet you." He gave me a soft kiss and I calmed fractionally.

As soon as I sat down Julie started asking me questions about what we were going to see today. I could see that Rachel was waiting for a good time to ask a question. Finally Julie stopped to think for a second and Rachel asked, "So Julie tells me you're a dancer Stephanie? She said you showed her some things."

"Yes, I hope that's okay? She was really very good. She picked it up quickly." I don't know why I felt like I was out of bounds in helping her. I had a feeling that while she may be okay with me dating her ex-husband, she'd get very territorial over the beautiful little girl holding her hand.

"It's fine. She enjoyed it, right baby?" She asked.

"It was fun!" Julie chirped enthusiastically.

I observed the former couples' interactions all the way to Brooklyn. The more I saw the more my worry diminished, they seemed to have a very similar relationship to Joe and me. They were more like old friends rather than spouses. I don't know if whatever spark they'd had in the beginning had faded a long time ago or if they never had much chemistry to begin with, but there was nothing there now besides an obvious deep affection.

Julie bounced out as soon as the car stopped, too excited to sit still for one more minute. We all trooped into the lobby of the theater and joined the large crowd milling around. There were a few snowflakes from the corps de ballet mingling with the crowd, taking pictures with the kids.

"Stephanie!" I turned to see my friend Amy coming towards me. "Hey sweetie! You watching today?" She hugged me tight.

"Yep, I brought some friends too." I pointed down at Julie. She was staring in awe at Amy in her lovely costume and sparkly makeup. This kid was just too cool, she loved hockey so much that she played it, and well according to her father. Yet she still had that wide-eyed wonder of an art that was widely perceived as ultra-feminine.

"This is Julie, Julie this is my friend Amy, this is Carlos, and this is Rachel. Amy dances for the company." She gave a little curtsy in Julie's direction.

"Have you ever seen a ballet before Julie?" She shook her head silently, suddenly shy. Carlos and I exchanged a smile.

"Well, I think you're going to like this one." She nodded and tucked herself into her dad's side.

Amy looked down at Carols' hand placed on my hip and gave me some raised brows. I blushed and smiled to which she smirked. It didn't take a genius to figure out our connection.

"I have to go warm up. We'll have lunch next week? We need to catch up about your new job…and everything else." She said eying his hand on me again. She knew that as of a month ago I was very single. She headed backstage and we went to find our seats.

Julie was completely enthralled with the performance. So much so that she was already dancing around by intermission, entertaining the three of us.

Carlos hugged me to him, "Thanks for giving her the chance to come today Babe. She's really having a great time."

"My pleasure Captain, I love seeing her so wrapped up in it. What about you? Are you enjoying it?"

"More than I thought I would. It's actually pretty athletic. They're all very strong huh?"

"Well I didn't get my huge calves from nothing." He moved to my ear to whisper, "Don't say anything bad about those legs. I love them, especially when you wrap them around me and hold on tight."

_Holy hot flash!_

"Not in front of your child, Romeo." Rachel said flicking his ear. He tried to look innocent, but failed miserably.

We had about five minutes left before the second act started so I ran to the ladies room. Rachel came in as I was washing my hands I drew in a deep breath, having a pretty clear idea of what was coming.

"I just need to say this once and we can move on okay?" I nodded. "I'm happy that he's so happy with you. I haven't seen him like this in…ever. He's an amazing guy, and I'm lucky that we kept our friendship during the split. I will always love him. We made that little girl together and she's the greatest thing to ever have happened to me. I can see that it's serious between you two and I hate saying things like this because it's not my business anymore, but please be good to him.

"Julie though, is my business and I think it's unnecessary to threaten you, I can tell you care about her already, but just go with me here, okay?" I nodded. "It's hard for me to think that one day she'll have another important woman in her life, but that's my issue to deal with. Just keep being nice to her and we'll be okay, okay?"

"I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here, please believe that. I'm not trying to ingratiate myself with anyone when I say that she's a great kid. They're both so easy to love."

"They really are." She agreed. That was way less painful than I'd anticipated.

We made it back right before they shut the doors for the rest of the performance.

The rest of the afternoon was really relaxed. We ate an early dinner while Julie demonstrated the dances she'd seen and we dropped Rachel off at home. I had Carlos and Julie drop me off too. They hadn't had seen each other for over a week so I caught up on email and laundry while they had daddy-daughter time.

I woke early on Christmas Eve, alone and feeling ridiculously horny from some pretty naughty dreams. I sighed knowing I wouldn't be able to resolve any of these lusty feelings until later that night. I finally got in a good workout and took a nice long shower to try to relax. Carlos and Julie would be picking me up at 12:00, so I sat at my beautiful, newly assembled table and wrapped presents like a mad woman. I had a nicely constructed pile by the time my bell rang, I grabbed the bag containing the gifts I was giving today and headed out. His whole family was meeting at his mom's house in Cranford for an early dinner; it was going to be so overwhelming to meet all his siblings at once.

Once we were on our way I started with the questions. "Okay so there's Juan Jr., Luis, Celia and Giselle right? And they're all married and have kids?" He nodded, "yep, let me think...including Baby Girl back there, there's 11 grandkids altogether."

"That explains Santa's sack full of presents in the trunk. This is going to kind of chaotic huh?"

"Yeah but it's always fun. The kids will probably play in the back yard most of the time, right Jules?"

"Oh yeah! Abuelita has the biggest play set ever in her garden and a game room downstairs for when we get tired."

"Last year they set up an ice rink in the garden right baby?"

"Yeah that was so cool, do you think she set that up again Daddy?"

"Maybe, sweetheart, we'll have to see." She smiled happily after that and read her book for a while. Carlos took the opportunity to fill me in on his sibs. Juan Jr. was a firefighter in Newark and his wife was a nurse, Luis was a teacher and high school hockey coach right there in Cranford. His wife also taught there. Celia worked from home doing something with computers and Giselle had just had her third baby and had decided to stay home with her kiddos for now.

Carlos seemed to really love his family and he was genuinely sad that they were all too busy to get together often.

We pulled up to a beautiful old Victorian house on a pretty tree lined street. This was miles nicer than the street I'd grown up on. The butterflies in my stomach went ballistic, careening around my insides. I was so damn nervous that they wouldn't like me.

I climbed out of the SUV, while Carlos let Julie out, and did some deep breathing to calm myself down. I'd heard so much about his mom and dad; I knew they were good people so I was probably nervous for nothing, but still...

He stood in front of me and squeezed my hands until I looked up at his gorgeous face.

"Relax Babe, it'll be fine. I love you." He said quietly, giving me a little kiss. Julie had already made it to the door and had pulled it open, yelling for her grandma. A pretty, petite woman appeared and scooped her up exclaiming about how big Julie had gotten, Julie scrambled down and scaled the handsome, dark-haired older man that had just appeared next to them.

"C'mon Babe." He said towing me to the door.

Carlos' mom turned her dark eyes, so like her sons, on me and smiled sweetly. She turned to Carlos and her smile turned beatific.

"Mi nino!" She said and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Merry Christmas Mama." He squeezed her back. She cupped his face and kissed his cheeks. Their affection was so damn sweet to witness.

He pulled away and embraced his father. They were roughly the same size, though his dad was a little softer around the middle. But holy shit! Was that man gorgeous?! If this is what Carlos was going to look like in twenty-five years I was going to have some serious eye candy for a long time to come.

"Steph," Carlos said pulling me away from ogling his dad, "these are my parents Maria and Juan Manoso, Mom, Dad, and this is my girlfriend Stephanie Plum." I stuck my hand out to shake hands with his mom, but she ignored it and pulled me into a hug instead.

"It's so nice to meet you Stephanie, Carlos told me so much about you this week. Come on in, come on." His father took my hand and kissed my cheek and I was mortified to feel myself blush. Carlos cocked an eyebrow at my reaction but thankfully didn't make a comment.

We all moved into the large but completely filled to capacity living room. A huge Christmas tree stood in the front window with a virtual mountain of presents arranged underneath. Carlos tugged me over to the group and started introductions. I have to say that everyone was very nice to me. I understood that his sisters in particular were very close with Rachel and I expected them to be a tad standoffish in solidarity with her. But they were far friendlier that I thought they would be.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention how fucking beautiful they all were? Celia had thick chestnut hair down to her waist, bright green eyes and a killer body, despite having two kids. Giselle was sitting nursing her tiny baby boy, but you could tell that she was in incredible shape and just as lovely as her sister. The three brothers could pass for triplets, except Luis was only about three inches taller than me. Jeez, I don't generally have issues with my appearance, but I was starting to feel like plain jane here. Even the spouses were very attractive. And the kids! So adorable! Julie had immediately joined her cousins who must have been waiting for her to get there as they were all now pulling on their coats to go play outside.

We passed a great afternoon watching the kids play. It was too warm for the homemade skating rink, so they made do with the huge play set. Carlos was talking to his brother about the away games so I followed my nose into the kitchen where his mom was busy cooking up a storm.

"Can I help with anything?" I wasn't the world's best cook, but it felt impolite not to at least offer.

"Oh yes! Can you peel and cut up those potatoes?"

"My specialty, sure." I stood next to Maria at the counter and got busy.

"Carlos told me that you're a physical therapist?"

"Yep. Did he tell you he was my first patient?"

"He was?" She smiled, "he's never been afraid of going after what he wants. How long did it take him to ask you out?"

"About six hours." I smiled at the memory, it felt like months had passed and it was only a few weeks.

"He loves you." It was a statement, not a question. Wow his mom was seriously blunt!

"Yes, he does."

"And you?"

"Very much. It's kind of crazy fast, but I do."

She smiled to herself. "I fell in love with his Papa quickly like that. He's handsome too, yes?" I nodded emphatically.

"Your whole family is gorgeous." I couldn't help but blurt.

"Thank-you for saying so. I hope you find that they're all good people too. Being able to raise our kids like this is why we moved here. Did Carlos tell you our story?" I shook my head, "It was 1976, his father and I had been married for about six months. We'd gotten pregnant almost right away with Juan Jr., and Castro was already in power. We were from good families, but we didn't agree with the politics you see? We had family in Miami, so we decided to leave. Defection was pretty serious, but we thought that the best thing for our child was to move here. The crossing was scary, it was us and twenty other people on a very small boat and I was sick the whole time. We were considered political refugees and had no real trouble getting the necessary paperwork. Juan's family had given us quite a bit of money for our wedding present and we used that to start up our business. We ended up moving to Newark and then moved here when that neighborhood got too rough for the kids. We've worked hard all our lives and look what we've accomplished." She waved her hand towards the window and the kids cavorting in the yard. I was so amazed at what this tiny and strong woman had done for her family. It always astounded me when people displayed the courage to pick up and begin a new life in another country.

"Do you miss it?"

"Not anymore. Our life has been here for a long time." She said with a smile.

"He's very happy you know, I can see it on his face, he was always my happy child. Carlos could never hide what he was feeling from me. He told me everything growing up. Good and bad. There are just some things a mother doesn't need to know, but he's my baby. A parent is not supposed to have favorites but..."

"Oh please Mama! We all know Carlos is your number one!" Giselle said from the doorway. "Stop hogging Stephanie, we all want to talk to her."

"Well then hand over the baby and help out!" Giselle handed the tiny sleeping infant over to me, and he gave a little stretch and yawn. His dark blue eyes popped open and he gazed at me for a second before closing them again. I laid him over my shoulder and patted his back, I rested my cheek on his and inhaled at the warm crease of his neck.

_How do all babies smell so good right there?_

His mom and sister told me some hilarious and sweet stories about Carlos when he was little, and not so little. How one day his mom caught him sneaking a girl out of his room at three in the morning. How he cried the first time he held Julie.

I could feel him behind me before he even said anything.

"Look at you with my nephew! I haven't even seen him yet." He slid an arm around me and nuzzled little Michael's cheek too.

He gave me a quick kiss and turned to his mom, who was watching us intently.

"Is dinner almost ready Mom? I'm starving!"

"Yes, get your brothers and set the tables please." She yelled for the kids to come in from outside and bang, it was utter chaos getting everyone seated. They'd set up a kids table in the living room and the adults were through the open archway in the dining room. We had a blast though. No family arguments, just good natured ribbing and really, really good food. His mom could _cook! _

Present-time was a snowstorm of wrapping paper and laughter. His parents had even gotten something for me, a gift certificate for a spa near my apartment. Carlos had told me that his mom and dad loved to go dancing at a Cuban restaurant in New Brunswick, so I had gotten them a gift certificate to go there. They were very pleased and already talking about when they would go. I gave Julie a leotard and tights and told her I would take her to get fitted for her soft shoes whenever she wanted. I also told her that one of the ballerinas she met the day before had offered to give her a private lesson at the ballet company. She took the opportunity to get up and show her whole family what she'd already learned. Everyone applauded raucously for her and you could actually see their praise build her up.

I was falling in love with his whole family nearly as quickly as I fell in love with him.

After a round of big hugs from everyone, we headed back home talking about what a great day it was the whole way there.

By the time we got back to the city Julie was fast asleep in her booster seat. I really loved how natural she and Carlos were together, how when he unbuckled her seatbelt and picked her up she just sort of snuggled into him while still half asleep.

Once Julie was all tucked into bed we said goodnight to Rachel and wished them a good trip to Disney the next day and made our way to his apartment. A huge tree had been put up in the living room and there were a few presents underneath it yet. I added the large box containing his.

"What's in there Babe?"

"Nuh-uh Captain you can wait for tomorrow." I really hoped he liked what I got him. It wasn't anything all that big, but it was useful.

"This can't though." He said as he pulled me flush against him and kissed the hell out of me.

RPOV

I woke early Christmas morning to call Julie before they left for the airport. She was very excited to go to Disney and she was almost maniacally happy about the gifts she'd received over the last two days, my little girl had definitely been spoiled! I slipped back into bed with Steph and watched her sleep for a few minutes. She was wearing the t-shirt I'd dug out for her last night and it had ridden up almost to her chest. Besides the obvious physical reaction to her lying in my bed nearly naked, I was having a seriously emotional one as well. It was like someone had hit fast forward on our relationship and all the things that most people ease their way into, we'd plunged into head first. Our first date was within hours of our first meeting, we'd slept together before the first week was out and now I was thinking hard about asking her to move in with me, I wasn't going to ask for a few months yet but I was definitely going to ask her. The idea of waking up next to her like this was so intoxicating.

Steph stretched a bit and snuggled up to me, throwing her leg over my hip. Her knee softly grazed my cock and I groaned. Even half asleep she turned me the fuck on! She buried her face in my neck and mumbled, "Merry Christmas Carlos." I smoothed my hands over her bare backside and held her tightly against my side.

"Merry Christmas Babe." She ran her hand slowly down my chest and stomach and into my boxers to squeeze me gently. It never ceased to amaze me that one touch from her and I was burning to be inside her. She was all sleep-warm and soft and when I checked to see if she was ready she let out a sweet sigh and pushed my shorts down. She tugged on my hip and said, "Come 'ere" until I was on my side facing her.

"Hi." She said quietly.

"Hi Babe." She titled her head up until we could kiss and she slung her leg over my hip again, lining us up. She wiggled until the very tip of me was in her then pulled me towards her until I was completely sheathed.

_Holy fucking shit, did I love doing this with her! _

"I love you Carlos...unh...so much!" She moaned as I started to move.

"I love you too Babe...Jesus..." Feeling her tight heat around me, hearing her tell me she loves me, I had to concentrate really hard to not come right away. I held her as close as possible to me and thrust slowly into her. Her sweet little sighs and moans were getting me close quickly, but I could feel her whole body tensing and knew she was getting there too. I pushed harder into her, pulling her down to meet my thrusts and was rewarded by the feeling of her clamping down and her back arching. The strangled, low moan she let out as she came pulled the climax right out of me and I spilled deep inside her.

We lay for a few minutes, locked together like that, enjoying the quiet. Today was going to be hectic later, but for now with my Babe in my arms, everything was peaceful.

We eventually rolled out of bed, grabbed some coffee and sat in front of the tree to exchange gifts.

"Wait let me grab my phone. I want pictures!" She ran into the entryway and bent to get her phone out of her bag and I made a mental note to make sure her shirt was pulled way down before I snapped any pictures of her opening her present. She ran back and sat on the floor in front of me, big grin in place, and handed me the box she'd left there last night. I ripped off the paper and pried off the nine yards of tape she'd used. The box popped open and I looked in at all the things she'd fit in there. There was a Dopp kit with a big C on the front. It was filled with more skin care products than I could ever possibly use, the fancy kind that you can only find at specialty stores. There was also a silver razor and shaving brush, and contrarily, beard conditioning oil.

"Beard oil Babe?"

"Yep Captain, for your playoff beard! I like a little stubble on you, but that shit'll chafe me if it gets too long!" I burst out laughing at her reasoning. "Do you like it all? Smell the shower gel, I almost had an orgasm on the spot when I smelled it in the store!"

"Oh yeah?" I smelled it and shrugged, it smelled like soap to me.

"This is really nice Babe, thank-you." She rolled her eyes at me, "take the kit out of the box baby." She raised her phone to take a picture. Underneath the kit was the wireless speaker system I had been wanting to buy since I saw it in a local electronics store six months ago, but had never gotten around to. "This is awesome Steph! Thanks! I mentioned this to you what? Once?"

"Yep, I pay attention too baby. Do you really like it?"

"Are you kidding? This is fantastic!" I held it up so and mugged for the camera.

"Your turn, here." I handed her her gift.

She bounced a little and giggled. I took her phone and tugged her shirt down to cover what only I'm allowed to look at. She carefully peeled off the paper and opened the box. "Oh Carlos, it's beautiful!" She pulled out her new bag and admired it. I took a quick picture. "Open it."

"It's full!" she said as she peered inside. The sales lady had shown me the matching wallet, iPad and iPhone covers. She'd definitely earned her hefty commission and I'd go back there in a heartbeat, she'd cut my shopping time down by hours. I waited for her to open the iPad cover, phone poised for her reaction.

"Oh my god! This is too much baby!" She opened her new iPad and saw that all the apps that she needed for work were already installed. Her iPad had broken last week and she hadn't had time to get a new one with the trip and all.

"I had Doc hook it up to the system at work yesterday. It's all set to go. It's the one with lots of memory and stuff, and the first year of cell service is taken care of..." I couldn't talk anymore because her mouth was firmly attached to mine. "Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you! I didn't realize how much I needed this to do my job until I dropped the damn thing. You're so good to me Carlos."

We made out under the tree for a while before her incredibly loud stomach grumbling sent us into the kitchen in search of sustenance. We took a long shower together and now it was my turn to get nervous about meeting the family. Her dad intimidated the hell out of me, but at least I'd already met him and had her assurances that he was a big fan. Her mom, however, was by Steph's account not a hockey fan. Steph said her mom's only concern would be how I treated her. If my mom saw how much I loved her before we'd even walked in her door yesterday, I only hoped it would be equally obvious to her mom.

**Wish him luck! We know what he can give Frank to win him over, but what can he give to Ellen/Helen?**

**EA xoxo**


End file.
